By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat

INOUE TO LEAVE FOR VEGAS ON OCT. 18

Unbeaten “The Monster” Naoya Inoue, WBA/IBF bantamweight titleholder, will leave for Las Vegas on October 18 to defend his belts against Aussie Jason Moloney there. Naoya will have to go through a two-week quarantine there prior to his participation. His stablemate, unbeaten 140-pounder Andy Hiraoka (15-0, 10 KOs), a flexible 5’11” ex-track & field player, 24, will also appear on the same show by Top Rank. IBF#15 Andy is the son of a Ghanaian father and a Japanese mother, is handled by Ohashi Promotions like Naoya.

WBO AP 126LB CHAMP MORI TO DEFEND AGAINST TAMEDA

Ohashi Promotions also announced that WBO Asia Pacific featherweight champ Musashi Mori (11-0, 6 KOs) will put his belt on the line against Tsuyoshi Tameda (21-5-2, 19 KOs) in Tokyo on November 28. Mori was once slated to participate in a unification 126-pound regional title bout with former 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and OPBF titlist Satoshi Shimizu, but the latter’s injury forced Mori to face another opposition on his behalf. Mori, if victorious, will meet Shimizu with both regional belts at stake on March 11 next year.

ITO-MISHIRO ENCOUNTER POSTPONED UNTIL DEC. 26

A highly expected confrontation of Japanese 130-pound prospects, former WBO world champ Masayuki Ito (26-2, 14 KOs) and current OPBF ruler Hironori Mishiro (9-0-1, 3 KOs) was slated on November 5, but Ito’s latest operation of appendicitis caused a postponement until December 26, Boxing Day.

KUBO DEFEATS IGARASHI

Former WBA 122-pound champ, tall southpaw Shun Kubo (14-2, 9 KOs) returned to action after a sixteen-month hiatus since his unsuccessful crack against the WBA featherweight champ Can Xu in China, and defeated compatriot Takashi Igarashi (13-5, 5 KOs) by a unanimous decision (79-73 twice, 78-74) over eight in Kobe, Japan, last Saturday (September 26).

In a semi-windup. WBO female atomweight champ Mika Iwakawa (10-5-1, 3 KOs) barely kept her belt by a split verdict (96-94, 97-93, 93-97) over Nanae Suzuki (10-4-1, 1 KO) over ten. Ex-Japanese national bantam champ Kohei Oba (36-4-1, 14 KOs) failed to make a successful comeback after six years as he was quickly and badly halted by Yoshio Minato (9-3, 4 KOs), at 0:32 of the second round in a scheduled six. Oba, a Floyd Mayweather stylist, once tasted an eighth-round TKO defeat by Randy Caballero in a world eliminator for #1 in Kobe in 2014.