Japan’s tradition of filling New Year’s Eve with violence is as strong as ever, as IBF Super Bantamweight Champion Jonathan Guzman is set to make his first defense against Yukinori Oguni in Kyoto. The fight will reportedly be part of a world title tripleheader, although the other two fights are as yet unannounced.
Guzman (22-0, 22 KO) demolished Shingo Wake for the title in July, going a career-long eleven rounds and dropping him four times before the referee stepped in. The Dominican is just twenty-seven.
Oguni (18-1-1, 7 KO) is 8-0-1 since falling to Wake in 2013 and ranked #7 by BoxRec. That said, two of those nine guys were making their debuts. Not the best preparations for possibly the biggest puncher at 122.
The fight is Japan’s fourth scheduled world title fight so far on that date. In Tokyo, Jezreel Corrales rematches Takashi Uchiyama for the WBA "Super" super featherweight title and Ryoichi Taguchi defends his WBA light flyweight title against Carlos Canizales. Moises Fuentes faces Kosei Tanaka for the vacant WBO light flyweight title, formerly held by Donnie Nietes, in Gifu.