Tomorrow at Korakuen Hall fight fans get a treat as they get the chance to see Kai Watanabe (12-1-1, 6) [渡邊海] take on the unbeaten Toshihiro Suzuki (5-0, 4) [鈴木稔弘] in a bout for the vacant OPBF Super Featherweight title.
Today, ahead of the bout, the two men took part in their weigh-in for the bout, and both men made the 130lb limit with no issues at all.
On the scales Watanabe came in bang on the limit, and sounded incredibly confident stating "I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be a technical fight. I've been training pretty hard, so I'm full of confidence. The match was postponed once, but it was postponed again soon, so I pushed myself hard, and I pushed myself for four months without a break." He also added that he had done over 250 rounds of sparring for the bout.
Talking about that sparring Watanabe added some details, explaining he went to America for training and sparred in the US "I also fought eight rounds once with Azat Hovhannisyan (Armenia), who was also Inoue Naoya's sparring partner. There are a lot of strong fighters in America, so I couldn't let my guard down."
As for Suzuki he was comfortably under the limit, coming in at 129.2lbs. He explained "My training and weight adjustment went perfectly." When queried about the bout being his first 12 rounder he stated "I'm not particularly worried.”
The bout, which headlines "Life Time Boxing Fights 23" and will be streamed live by ABEMA, promises to be a compelling bout. Watanabe will be looking to secure his 4th straight win and claim his second professional title, and with Suzuki stepping up in class to try and claim his first professional belt, in what is his first bout against a fellow Japanese fighter.
