Shiba and Iwata to fight for Japanese title in September!
At the start of July we reported that WBC Light Flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10) [寺地 拳四朗] would be making his next defense in September, when he takes on fellow Japanese fighter Masamichi Yabuki (12-3, 11) [佐藤政道] in Kyoto City. At that time of that news Yabuki was the Japanese national champion and it was unclear what was going to happened to the Japanese title.
Today there was some clarity on that title picture with Yabuki vacating the title to focus on the Kenshiro bout. There was also clarity on what would be happening to fill the vacancy.
It's been confirmed that just a day after Kenshiro and Yabuki battle for the WBC title in Kyoto the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo will play host to a bout between Rikito Shiba (5-1, 3) [芝力人] and Shokichi Iwata (6-0, 4) [岩田翔吉] to fill the vacancy left by Yabuki, with the bout serving as the main event of a Dynamic Glove card on G+.
The bout has been put together after Daiki Tomita (16-2, 5) [冨田大樹] was unable to face Shiba, due to an injury.
For Shiba this will be a his second fight for a title, having previously held the Japanese Youth title back in 2019. Notably however he lost in a Japanese title eliminator just 3 months after that youth title win, losing in 4 rounds to Yabuki. As for the the highly touted Iwata, who has been eyed as a potential world champion since his debut, this will be his first career title bout of any kind.
The chief support bout on the Korakuen Hall card is another bout that promises real excitement as former Japanese Welterweight champion Yuki Nagano (18-3, 14) [永野祐樹] battles former WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight champion Yuki Beppu (21-2-1, 20) [別府優樹] in what is essentially a Japanese title eliminator. These two men are fighting for the second time, with Nagano giving Beppu his first loss when the men clashed back in 2018. Nagano will be looking for a repeat of that win whilst Beppu will be looking to avenge that loss.
Today there was some clarity on that title picture with Yabuki vacating the title to focus on the Kenshiro bout. There was also clarity on what would be happening to fill the vacancy.
It's been confirmed that just a day after Kenshiro and Yabuki battle for the WBC title in Kyoto the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo will play host to a bout between Rikito Shiba (5-1, 3) [芝力人] and Shokichi Iwata (6-0, 4) [岩田翔吉] to fill the vacancy left by Yabuki, with the bout serving as the main event of a Dynamic Glove card on G+.
The bout has been put together after Daiki Tomita (16-2, 5) [冨田大樹] was unable to face Shiba, due to an injury.
For Shiba this will be a his second fight for a title, having previously held the Japanese Youth title back in 2019. Notably however he lost in a Japanese title eliminator just 3 months after that youth title win, losing in 4 rounds to Yabuki. As for the the highly touted Iwata, who has been eyed as a potential world champion since his debut, this will be his first career title bout of any kind.
The chief support bout on the Korakuen Hall card is another bout that promises real excitement as former Japanese Welterweight champion Yuki Nagano (18-3, 14) [永野祐樹] battles former WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight champion Yuki Beppu (21-2-1, 20) [別府優樹] in what is essentially a Japanese title eliminator. These two men are fighting for the second time, with Nagano giving Beppu his first loss when the men clashed back in 2018. Nagano will be looking for a repeat of that win whilst Beppu will be looking to avenge that loss.