Nishida and Salas given deadline to negotiate a deal

Earlier this month IBF Bantamweight champion Ryosuke Nishida (10-0, 2) [西田凌佑] made his first defense, as he stopped Thai challenger Anuchai Donsua (16-1, 7). Now it's been reported that his second defense will be a mandatory, and that his team has been given a deadline for negotiations with with the team of unbeaten Mexican Jose Salas Reyes (15-0, 10), aka "El Chapulin", with this being reported by the ever reliable ​@BarbosaBox who expects the bout to be made for the second quarter of the year, lining up with when Nishida's team next want him in action.

The two men will be making for something of a unique match up, with both being unbeaten southpaws, who are tall for the weight, at 5'7", and it'll be a rare case of neither fighter having a significant reach or height advantage of their foe.

Aged 22 the Mexican challenger is regarded as a great talent, and has fought between Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight in recent years, picking up wins against the then 23-0 Prince Dzanie, former world title challenger Aston Palicte and Luis Guzman Torres, who will be known for having lost to Tenshin Nasukawa. There is real potential with him, but so far his record isn't really packed with notable wins.

As for the champion, who was said to be eyeing a potential unification bout with WBC champion Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22) [中谷 潤人], He has scored noteworthy wins against the likes of Shohei Omori, Daigo Higa, Christian Medina Jimenez and Emmanuel Rodriguez, and has had an excellent 2024 which included his title win against Rodriguez, in May, and his defence against Donsua in December. On paper he is a massive step up in class for Salas, but will be hoping his team can come to a deal to get Salas to travel to Japan, rather than needing to fight away from home, where his lack of power could be a real issue on the scorecards.