This morning at 7:00 am ET streaming live on ESPN+, we’ll see two world titles on the line from Tokyo, and BLH will be here with round-by-round coverage.
In what is probably the bigger fight for U.S. and certainly U.K. audiences, Naoya Inoue (15-0, 13 KO) moves up to the bantamweight division to challenge Jamie McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KO) for the WBA “world” title at 118 pounds. If Inoue wins, he’s already expressed a desire to compete in the World Boxing Super Series tournament starting later this year, but first things first, and it’s a new weight for him, against a bigger, taller opponent in McDonnell.
The WBC junior flyweight title will also be up for grabs, as Ken Shiro (12-0, 6 KO) defends against Ganigan Lopez (29-7, 18 KO) in a rematch of their May 2017 bout, where Ken Shiro won the belt via majority decision.
We’ll be here with updates and live coverage. Join us for some Friday morning boxing!