Tomorrow (Thursday) we will watch a highly competitive confrontation of WBC #8 Japanese feather champ Ryo Sagawa (10-1, 5 KOs) and mandatory challenger Hinata Maruta (10-1-1, 8 KOs) with the national belt on the line in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the shows under the annual Carnival of Champions where all the Japanese titleholders must defend their belts against top contenders in their first defenses of the year.

Sagawa, formerly a university boxer with only a 4-1 pro mark, abruptly appeared on the front line when he upset former world challenger Ryo Matsumoto (beaten by Daniel Roman in February 2018) by an unexpected third round stoppage in September 2019. He again upset then world-rated southpaw Reiya Abe to acquire the vacant Japanese 126-pound title by a unanimous decision in December that year. Since then, Sagawa showed his technical improvement in defending his belt twice against Ryo Hino (W10) and Yuri Takemoto (KO6) to raise his stock among ringsiders and press people.

On the other hand, Maruta, an elongated boxer-puncher, took a roundabout way to get this title shot although he, greatly expected prior to his entry into the paid ranks, defeated then world-rated Jason Canoy on points in his pro debut in 2015 and seized the WBC youth bantam belt by finishing Filipino Joe Tejones in his third outing next year. Maruta, however, tasted a nightmarish experience when he got battered by the OPBF 122-pound champ Hidenori Otake, much more experienced, and failed to win the regional belt in his sixth pro bout in October 2017. Simply, Maruta wasn’t “The Monster” Inoue. Since then, the talented rookie made a long detour, as he fought once in Thailand and battled to a split draw with Ben Mananquil in the Philippines. He also defeated hard-punching compatriot Tsuyoshi Tameda (TKO5), Coach Hiroto (W8) and ex-feather champ Takenori Ohashi (TKO3) to move up to the JBC’s mandatory position.

This encounter originally slated in April has been postponed several times because of the COVID-19 coronavirus but time has come to see the talented youngsters collide to go forward to the top in Asia. Time will tell tomorrow.