TOKYO — U-Next have announced a championship tripleheader for 29 November at Tokyo's venerable Ryogoku Kokugikan, with a bantamweight belt and two super flyweight titles on the line as Japan's traditional year-end title season gets underway.
Headlining the card is a WBA bantamweight title rematch between "world" champion Riku Masuda (11-1, 9 KO) and former titlist Seiya Tsutsumi (13-0-3, 8 KO). The pair have history, with Tsutsumi beating Masuda by unanimous decision when both were on the rise in 2023. Two aggressive finishers with that shared past should make for fireworks in the return.
Three pounds south at super flyweight, multi-weight champion Kenshiro Teraji (26-2, 16 KO) makes his first defence of his super flyweight title against No.10 contender Jassiel Ramon Amador Gamez (15-0-1, 13 KO). The 25-year-old Amador will fight for the first time outside his native Mexico and for just the second time outside his home state of Baja California Sur, bringing an unheralded but heavy-handed record into his first world title opportunity.
Also at 115lbs, WBA champion David Jimenez (18-1, 12 KO) defends against former flyweight titlist Seigo Yuri Akui (23-3-1, 13 KO), remembered for his Fight of the Year candidate against Teraji last year. The bout comes after the sanctioning body ordered Jimenez to rematch mandatory challenger John "Scrappy" Ramirez, only to grant Jimenez a "special permit" for this voluntary defence, stating it "has the authority to modify mandatory defense deadlines and grant special permits under justified circumstances."
The press release did not specify what those "justified circumstances" are, but stated the winner must face Ramirez within 120 days, while noting the organisation's purported authority to modify mandatory defence deadlines.