Nishida takes part in media work out ahead of Rodriguez clash
Next weekend IBF Bantamweight champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (22-2, 13) will defend his title against mandatory challenger Ryosuke Nishida (8-0, 1) [西田凌佑]. Today, ahead of that fight, Nishida took part in a media workout and press conference at the Muto gym in Osaka.
Regarding his preparation for facing Rodriguez, it was revealed that Nishida had done around 200 rounds of sparring, mostly against University fighters. Due to the lengthy preparation the work out today was a short one, with Nishida hitting the mitts with Kosuke Takeishi, and doing some shadow boxing. This was in front of Rodriguez’ trainer who seemed pretty impressed, explaining that Nishida was a good athlete, with a good jab and good height, something that few realise is that Nishida is a tall fighter for Bantamweight, and is one of the taller man currently fighting at 118lbs.
Talking about how he feels, Nishida explained that he was enjoying his wife’s cooking, and knows he can’t get too excited against Rodriguez, instead he needs to fight his style. He believes he has the speed, power and technique to win, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t respect Rodriguez, explaining that the champion was a first class fighter. It seemed, almost, like Nishida was suggesting that part of his gameplan was to frustrate the champion, admitting that he wanted to accumulate points in a way that Rodriguez wouldn’t enjoy.
Although relatively unknown outside of Japan, Nishida has been impressive on the Japanese scene. In just 8 fights he has already beaten former world title challenger Shohei Omori and former world champion Daigo Higa. Interestingly he made a call back to the Omori fight, explaining that he’d be wearing white shorts for this bout, something he last did when he beat Omori back in December 2020.
Regarding his preparation for facing Rodriguez, it was revealed that Nishida had done around 200 rounds of sparring, mostly against University fighters. Due to the lengthy preparation the work out today was a short one, with Nishida hitting the mitts with Kosuke Takeishi, and doing some shadow boxing. This was in front of Rodriguez’ trainer who seemed pretty impressed, explaining that Nishida was a good athlete, with a good jab and good height, something that few realise is that Nishida is a tall fighter for Bantamweight, and is one of the taller man currently fighting at 118lbs.
Talking about how he feels, Nishida explained that he was enjoying his wife’s cooking, and knows he can’t get too excited against Rodriguez, instead he needs to fight his style. He believes he has the speed, power and technique to win, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t respect Rodriguez, explaining that the champion was a first class fighter. It seemed, almost, like Nishida was suggesting that part of his gameplan was to frustrate the champion, admitting that he wanted to accumulate points in a way that Rodriguez wouldn’t enjoy.
Although relatively unknown outside of Japan, Nishida has been impressive on the Japanese scene. In just 8 fights he has already beaten former world title challenger Shohei Omori and former world champion Daigo Higa. Interestingly he made a call back to the Omori fight, explaining that he’d be wearing white shorts for this bout, something he last did when he beat Omori back in December 2020.