Category: Japanese World Rankings

Japanese World Rankings January 2020

2/3/2020

By - George Delis (@Delisketo)

Middleweight:
-Ryota Murata (16-2): WBA (Regular) World champion
The Olympic champion knocked out Steven Butler (28-2) in his inaugural WBA title defence on New Year’s Eve. A match with Canelo could be realised in Fall.

Super Welterweight:
-Takeshi Inoue (16-1): WBO #10 / IBF #14 / WBC #15
Inoue made short work of Thai veteran Komsan Polsan (39-12) to become the WBO Asia Pacific champion for the second time. He also dominated Chinese fighter Cheng Su (14-3) on January 18th.

Welterweight:
-Keita Obara (23-4): IBF #4
Obara successfully challenged Yuki Nagano (17-3) on February 1st, winning the Japanese strap once more, this time in a different weight class.

-Yuki Beppu (21-1): WBO #14
In what was an absolute thriller, Yuki Beppu came back from 5 knockdowns and stopped Ryota Yada (19-6), capturing the WBO Asia Pacific title in the process.

Super Lightweight:
-Koki Inoue (15-0): WBO #15
The unified Japanese & WBO Asia Pacific champion will put his national title on the line, against Daishi Nagata (14-2) on March 16th.

-Andy Hiraoka (15-0): IBF #14 / WBC #20
The Japanese youngster earned the biggest win of his career, this past summer, over former world title challenger Akihiro Kondo (32-9). He also made a successful US debut against Rogelio Casarez (13-9) on November 30th.

Lightweight:
-Shuichiro Yoshino (11-0): WBO #13 / WBC #15
Yoshino knocked out Harmonito Dela Torre (20-3) in just one round to unify the Japanese, OBPF & WBO Asia Pacific belts. He now meets Izuki Tomioka (7-2) on February 13th.

Super Featherweight:
-Masayuki Ito (26-2): WBO #5 / WBC #13
The former World titlist was supposed to be involved in a WBO final eliminator, on February 2nd, but due to an injury, he’s out of the match.

-Kenichi Ogawa (24-1): IBF #3 / WBA #4 / WBO #7 / WBC #18
Ogawa’s fight with Joe Noynay (18-2), from this past December, ended with a technical draw.

-Kazuhiro Nishitani (21-4): IBF #9
Nishitani beat Monico Laurente (30-16) 2 months ago.

Featherweight:
-Tomoki Kameda (36-3): WBA #4 / WBC #15
The former WBO Bantamweight & interim WBC Super Bantamweight champion is planning his Featherweight debut.

-Musashi Mori (11-0): WBO #6 / WBC #22
Mori defended his WBO Asia Pacific title twice in 2019, against the former champion Richard Pumicpic (21-10) as well as Takuya Mizuno (17-2).

-Hiroshige Osawa (36-5): WBA #1 / IBF #10 / WBC #19
Osawa defeated Jason Butar Butar (32-27) back in October.

-Ryo Sagawa (9-1): WBC #9 / IBF #14 / WBO #15
Sagawa earned a unanimous decision over Ryo Hino (13-2) to retain his Japanese title.

Super Bantamweight:
-Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3): interim IBF World champion
Iwasa secured the interim IBF title, after stopping Marlon Tapales (33-3), this past December. He is expected to unify with the new WBA/IBF champion & Olympic Bronze medalist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0) later this year.

-Hiroaki Teshigawara (21-2): IBF #7
Teshigawara has defended his OPBF championship 3 times in 2019, against Yuki Iriguchi (10-3), Shohei Kawashima (18-4) and former world title challenger Shohei Omori (21-3). All knockout victories.

-Yukinori Oguni (21-2): WBA #4
The former IBF champion hasn’t competed since last May.

Bantamweight
-Naoya Inoue (19-0): WBA (Super) & IBF World champion
The Monster will be involved in another unification match, on April 25th, this time with the WBO champion John Riel Casimero (29-4).

-Daigo Higa (15-1): WBC #7
The former WBC Flyweight World champion will make his Bantamweight debut on February 13th against Jason Buenaobra (7-4).

-Keita Kurihara (15-5): IBF #5
Kurihara scored 2 knockout victories in 2019 over former world title challenger Warlito Parrenas (26-10) and the IBF Pan Pacific champion Sukpraserd Ponpitak (24-11).

-Yuki Strong Kobayashi (15-8): IBF #12 / WBO #14 / WBC #21
Kobayashi defended his WBO Asia Pacific title against Ki Chang Go (8-4) on December 22nd.

-Takuma Inoue (13-1): WBC #6
The former interim WBC champion will resume his career in 2020.

Super Flyweight:
-Kazuto Ioka (24-2): WBO World champion.
Japan’s first ever 4 division World champion broke the undefeated streak of Jeyvier Cintron (11-1) to successfully retain his WBO crown on New Year’s Eve. Ioka hopes to face the WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3) next.

Flyweight:
-Kosei Tanaka (15-0): WBO World champion
Tanaka obliterated Wulan Tuolehazi (13-4), on New Year’s Eve, in just a few rounds. The 3 division World champion has expressed his wish to move up to Super Flyweight and challenge Kazuto Ioka.

-Junto Nakatani (20-0): WBA #1 / WBC #3 / WBO #3 / IBF #7
Nakatani scored the biggest win of his career last October, when he outclassed former IBF World champion Milan Melindo (37-5).

-Ryota Yamauchi (5-1): WBA #3
Yamauchi beat the WBA Asia champion Alphoe Dagayloan (14-3) last year. He now takes on MJ Bo (8-3) on February 14th.

-Akira Yaegashi (28-7): IBF #12
The former 3 division champion came up short in his quest to recapture the IBF title.

Light Flyweight:
-Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0): WBA (Super) World champion.
Kyoguchi will return to action either in April or in May.

-Kenshiro Teraji (17-0): WBC World champion.
The unstoppable Kenshiro marked his 7th title defense, on December 23rd, over former interim WBA champion Randy Petalcorin (31-4).

-Sho Kimura (18-3): WBO #7 / WBA #10
Former World champions collide on February 15th, as Sho Kimura squares off with Merlito Sabillo (27-7) in the Philippines.

-Daiki Tomita (14-1): WBO #13
Tomita returned the WBO Asia Pacific title and will now be fighting Kenichi Horikawa (40-16) for the vacant OPBF championship, on March 1st.

-Yuto Takahashi (11-4): IBF #6
The Japanese champion defends against Masamichi Yabuki (10-3) on March 15th.

-Reiya Konishi (17-2): IBF #8 / WBC #16
Konishi failed to capture the IBF title from Felix Alvarado (35-2).

-Masamichi Yabuki (10-3): WBC #12
Yabuki challenges Yuto Takahashi for the Japanese belt as aforementioned.

-Tetsuya Hisada (34-10): WBC #3 / IBF #4
Hisada’s impressive 13 fight winning streak came to an end, when he challenged Hiroto Kyoguchi for the WBA (Super) title.

-Kenichi Horikawa (40-16): WBC #5 / IBF #13
As mentioned above, Horikawa and Daiki Tomita will face each other for the OPBF strap.

Strawweight:
-Ginjiro Shigeoka (5-0): WBA #8 / WBO #14 / WBC #14
Shigeoka knocked out former world title challenger Rey Loreto (25-15) on December 31st to retain his WBO Asia Pacific championship.

-Norihito Tanaka (19-7): WBC #3 / IBF #3 / WBO #5 / WBA #13
Tanaka vacated the Japanese title, as he aims at a world championship fight in 2020.

-Masataka Taniguchi (12-3): WBO #4 / WBC #11
The former WBO Asia Pacific champion Taniguchi will clash with the OPBF champion Lito Dante (16-11) on March 17th, for both the OPBF & the vacant Japanese titles.

-Takumi Sakae (22-3): WBO #11 / IBF #13 / WBC #40
Sakae fought thrice last year, knocking out all of his opponents.

-Tsubasa Koura (14-1): WBC #9 / IBF #14
Koura is scheduled to return on February 27th, against Yujie Zeng (14-10).

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