Kenshiro Teraji vs Jonathan Gonzalez unification official for April 8th in Tokyo

Organizers held a press conference yesterday evening to officially announce that Kenshiro Teraji will battle Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez in a three-belt light flyweight unification on April 8th.

As I said before, this is an extremely strong matchup and a fascinating clash of styles. Teraji’s (20-1, 12 KO) been on fire since losing a shootout with Masamichi Yabuki and Gonzalez’s (27-3-1, 14 KO) move from 112 to 108 has paid incredible dividends. There’s every reason to expect a hugely entertaining clash for the WBC, WBA, and WBO titles.

In the co-feature, Takuma Inoue (17-1, 4 KO) battles Liborio Solis (35-6-1, 16 KO) for the vacant WBA bantamweight title formerly held by Naoya Inoue. This will be Inoue’s second bid at a full belt, having once earned the WBC interim belt and fallen to Nordine Oubaali soon after, and former super flyweight champ Solis’ fifth attempt to become a two-weight champion. Inoue’s a solid operator despite his lack of power and Solis’ only bantamweight losses were to Shinsuke Yamanaka, Jamie McDonnell in a robbery, and Guillermo Rigondeaux.

While it’s not the main event, the featured attraction is kickboxing great Tenshin Nasukawa’s professional boxing debut against Yuki Yonaha (12-4-1, 8 KO). All Mayweather jokes aside, Nasukawa was magnificent in his previous sport of choice, and though I’m sad we’ll only get to see two of his weapons from now on, I’m hopeful he gets the paydays his talent merits.

Also in store is the previously revealed IBF featherweight final eliminator between Kiko Martinez (44-11-2, 31 KO) and Reiya Abe (24-3-1, 10 KO), plus Jin Sasaki (14-1-1, 13 KO) vs Keita Obara (26-4-1, 23 KO).