Japan’s best card of the year is less than two months away, and American viewers won’t have to jump through hoops to enjoy it. Top Rank announced today that ESPN+ will carry the November 1st light flyweight unification bout between Kenshiro Teraji and Hiroto Kyoguchi alongside three other great fights.
The event airs domestically on Prime Video and kicks off at 4:30 AM Eastern.
Teraji (19-1, 11 KO) vs Kyoguchi (16-0, 11 KO) has been the fight to make at 108 since Kyoguchi stopped Hekkie Budler for the WBA “super” title in 2018. Teraji had already held the WBC belt for a year at that point, and the pair quickly established themselves as the top two in the division with successful defense after successful defense.
The fight appeared to have gone the over-marinated way of Lopez vs. Gamboa when Teraji lost his title to Masamichi Yabuki last year, but he looked as good as ever when he reclaimed the belt in a the three-round hatchet job. It’s just a damn good matchup, one that promises extreme fireworks.
The winner could be in line for further unification soon after, as WBO champ Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez (26-3-1, 14 KO) will defend his belt against undefeated #2 contender Shokichi Iwata (9-0, 6 KO). The 26-year-old Iwata has won basically every regional title that means anything and Gonzalez has looked great since dropping from 112, so whoever emerges victorious will be a worthy challenger.
Earlier that evening/morning, WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani (23-0, 18 KO) will try his hand at 115 lbs. against Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (36-5-1, 25 KO). “Chihuas” gave Kazuto Ioka everything he could handle last year, making him a genuine test for the young gun.
Finally, at lightweight, rising Shuichiro Yoshino (15-0, 11 KO) looks to follow up his retirement of Masayuki Ito against the always dangerous Masayoshi Nakatani. This will be Nakatani’s second fight since falling to Vasiliy Lomachenko.