On Sunday we’ll see a stacked card on U-Next, with a world title bout, along with several notable under-card bouts in one of the strongest Japanese cards of the year. Today, ahead of that bout, the fighters took part in their weigh-in for the event, with all fighters making weight.
The main event of the show will see IBF Bantamweight champion Ryosuke Nishida (9-0, 1) [西田凌佑] make his first defense, as he takes on unbeaten Thai challenger Anuchai Donsua (16-0, 7). On the scales the champion was bang on 118lbs, and looked great at the weight, whilst the challenger was a touch lighter at 116.9lbs, a full 1lb under the divisional limit. Like Nishida, the challenger looked in great shape, and had clearly worked hard to prepare for the biggest bout of his career.Nishida told the press "I was able to lose weight nicely, but now I just need to move well in the match. For now, I'm in perfect condition." And added "First of all, I want to win. I'll show what I've done up until now, fight at a distance that I'm comfortable with, and in the end I want to defeat my opponent."
As for the Thai, he explained "I thought my opponent was a little big, but other than that I don't have any particular impression. Now I just wait for tomorrow's match. I'm confident I'll win,"It was also decided that both men would wear Winning, with Nishida wearing black gloves and Donsua wearing blue.Another major bout on the card will be the rematch between Riku Kunimoto (12-1, 6) [国本陸], who will be defending his WBO Asia Pacific Middleweight title, and Kazuto Takesako (17-2-1, 15) [竹迫司登]. These two fought back in 2021, with Takesako taking a quick win over Kunimoto, but since then Kunimoto has been on a tear, going 8-0 whilst Takesake has struggled, going 4-2. On the scales both men were comfortably under the limit, with Kunimoto weighing in at 159.8lbs and Takesako around 159.6lbs.
Kunimoto, who has long wanted a rematch with Takesako, stated "If I do what I have to do, I won't lose. I'll fight with faith in myself. I'll punch as hard as I can tomorrow. I'm fired up." Whilst Takesako explained "I think my opponent is confident, but I've fought against some of the world's top ranked fighters and my career is overwhelmingly different. I'll show you that difference tomorrow."A third noteworthy bout will see Light Flyweight OPBF champion Thanongsak Simsri (36-1, 33) take on former world champion Masataka Taniguchi (19-4, 13) [谷口将隆], in what is an IBF world title eliminator and an OPBF title defense for Simsri. On the scales Simsri was 106.25lbs, well under the limit, whilst Taniguchi was 107.6lbs. Interestingly the rules for this the IBF take priority over the OPBF, and as a result the scores will not be made open after rounds 4 and 8 like they typically are for OPBF title fights in Japan.On the subject of OPBF title fights, the bout between Kenneth Llover (12-0, 7) and Tulio Dekanarudo (8-2-2, 4) [桑畑凜生], for the OPBF “interim” Bantamweight title will have open scoring. The men, for this one, both made the 118lbs limit with no issues, Dekanarudo was 117.8lbs whilst Llover was 116.6lbs. The other title bout on the show, also at Bantamweight, will see Shunpei Kaneshiro (3-0, 2) [金城隼平] make his first defense of the Japanese Youth title, as he takes on fellow unbeaten Hyuga Gushiken (4-0, 3) [又吉日向]. On the scales both the youngsters were 117.5lbs.
