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Takuma Inoue arrives to fight Kazuto Ioka in their WBC Bantamweight Title Match boxing contest at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on May 2, 2026. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Levi Luna announced on last night’s ESPN KnockOut broadcast that WBC bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue will rematch mandatory challenger Tenshin Nasukawa this coming September in Japan.
This isn’t the most organic sequel you’ll ever see; Inoue (22-2, 5 KO) comfortably beat Nasukawa (8-1, 2 KO) when they met last November, with the latter seemingly running out of ideas after a solid pair of openingrounds. They’ve each fought just once since, dispatching former super flyweight champions in dominant fashion. Inoue took a wide decision over four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka, while Nasukawa ran roughshod over Juan Francisco Estrada.
I know it’s a punchline, but this genuinely needs a lot more marination. Yes, Nasukawa looked like a killer against “El Gallo,” but a 10-month do-over when it wasn’t competitive the first time around is a hard sell, especially with a highly appealing Inoue vs “Bam” Rodriguez fight apparently on the table. You can’t really chalk it up to Nasukawa being the mandatory challenger, either, as the WBC is notoriously flexible in how it enforces those sorts of deadlines.
Still, Nasukawa remains a big-ticket attraction and is likely to make bank once again, so I see the logic.
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