April 22nd-Vacant titles up for grabs at Korakuen Hall

4/18/2025

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan event
This coming Tuesday we get a triple header at Korakuen Hall, in what is set to be a really good card, even though it did have a late change, with a regional title bout and two Champion Carnival bouts for vacant Japanese titles.

The main event will see former WBO AP Super Featherweight champion Kai Watanabe (13-2-1, 7) look to regain the title, which is now vacant, and bounce back from a recent defeat as he takes on the limited but dangerous Ryusei Ishii (12-7-1, 9). Watanabe went 9-0-1 to begin his career and showed some real promise before winning a Japanese youth title in late 2023, in his second shot. He defended that belt once before putting on a sensational performance to win the WBO AP title in late 2024 with a blow out win over Toshihiro Suzuki. The win over Suzuki seemed like one that showed Watanabe was a star in the making, he lost his very next fight, in a rather tense but dull affair against OPBF champion Tsubasa Narai in January. At his best he’s sensational, but sadly Watanabe is very hit and miss, and can focus too much on boxing which doesn’t seem to play to his strengths. As for Ishii he’s a very dangerous southpaw, who has turned his career around in the last 4 years or so. He was 8-7-1 (5) at one point, but has won his last 4 , including big domestic wins over Takuya Uehara, avenging one of his losses, Go Hosaka and Soreike Taichi. You overlook Ishii at your peril, and whilst Watanabe should win, he will need to be aware of Ishii’s power and confidence.

In the chief support bout we get a genuinely mouth watering Japanese Super Bantamweight title bout, as Toshiya Ishii (8-1-2, 5) takes on Katsuya Fukui (8-0, 6) for the title which we saw being vacated by Toshiki Shimomachi. For Ishii this will be a second shot at the Japanese title and despite his 8-1-2 record he has already proven he very much belongs at this level, his one loss was a controversial one to Sho Ishida and his draw have come against highly ranked domestic fighters, including Shimomachi in a 2023 title fight.his one loss was a controversial one to Sho Ishida and his draw have come against highly ranked domestic fighters, including Shimomachi in a 2023 title fight. As for Fukui, this is a clear step up in class, but one he’s been working too in the correct fashion with good wins against a mix of styles and fighters, including Hiroki Hanabusa, Sang Heon Oh and Ben Mananquil. Given the styles of the men, we expect this to be high level, explosive and incredibly tense, with both likely feeling they have the power to stop the other.

The third bout, another bout for a vacant Japanese title, will see Kyotaro Yoshida (6-3, 3) take on Jinya Yamaguchi (5-0-1, 2), for the Japanese Super Flyweight title. Originally the plan had been for Yamaguchi to face Suzumi Takayama (9-0, 8) in a very good looking Champion Carnival bout, but Takayama had to vacate the title due to illness, and we’ve ended up with this one instead. Yamaguchi, a second generation fighter, has claimed the Youth title already in his career and had earned a shot at the Japanese senior title, but hadn't really shone like some had hoped and he is very much still a work in progress after 6 fights.With 9 fights to his name, and 3 losses, it’s easy to write Yoshida off, but he was a very capable amateur, who has been matched hard since turning professional and has finally began to show his potential as a professional, sitting on his shots more, and scoring TKO’s in his last 3. This is likely to be something of a chess match, but a very interesting one, between two men who likely feel they are somewhat fortunate to be fighting for the vacant, and not taking on Takayama.

On the under-card we’ll see Dave Apolinario (21-1, 14) continue to rebuild after his loss in a bout for the IBF Flyweight title last year, as he takes on Chinese visitor Longyi Hu (8-2-2, 4). The talented Apolinario is someone who is really skilled, but needs some seasoning, some higher quality wins, and some good rounds against solid regional fighters, and Hu fits that mould well. He has never been stopped, both of his draws, and his two losses, have been razor thin bouts, and he's a very live fighter with ambitions of his own, as he showed in 2023 when he stopped Shugo Namura. Hu is 2-2-2 in his last 6, but could easily have won all 6 and will look to make the most of the biggest fight of his career.

One other bout to be aware of is the debut of Hijiri Oka (0-0), who takes on Thai visitor Witsanu Phimpa (7-6, 5). Oka is tipped for big things after going 40-10 in the amateurs and should be way too good for his foe here, as he looked to make a quick impact, and then move on to bigger and better things over the coming years.

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