Kenshiro Teraji TKOs Late Sub Anthony Olascuaga; Inoue Wins Too

Kenshiro Teraji TKOs Late Sub Anthony Olascuaga; Inoue Wins Too

Kenshiro Teraji, in his second reign as the WBC world title-holder at 108 pounds and now carrying the WBA belt as well, stopped late sub Anthony Olascuaga last night on a Teiken Promotions card in Tokyo. The end came in round nine when Teraji pinned the hard-trying Los Angeles import against the ropes and unleashed a flurry of punches that knocked him through the ropes, impelling referee Mark Nelson to waive the fight off without a count. The official time was 1:58 of round nine.

A second-generation prizefighter, Teraji (21-1, 13 KOs) was rated the #1 light flyweight for the decade 2010-2019 by the noted boxing authority Matt McGrain. However, he didn’t look the part tonight as Olascuaga, who took the fight on 10 days notice, replacing WBO belt-holder Jonathan Gonzalez who contracted pneumonia, repeatedly penetrated Teraji’s guard with hard punches (which isn’t to say that the fight was close on the cards through the completed rounds).

Seven years younger than the champion at age 24, the gritty Olascuaga had only five pro fights under his belt heading in. His effort, albeit a losing one, rucked him out of obscurity in the eyes of serious fight fans.

Co-Feature

Takuma Inoue kept the WBO world bantamweight title in the family with a 12-round unanimous decision over Liborio Solis. They were competing for the diadem vacated by Naoya Inoue who owned all four 118-pound belts before abandoning the weight class to pursue further glory at 122.

It was the fifth straight win for Inoue who improved to 18-1 (4 KOs) with his only setback coming in a failed bid to win the WBC version of this title, losing a unanimous decision to Nordine Oubaali. As his record shows, he possesses none of the power of Naoya who some rate the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

The 41-year-old Solis, a former title-holder from Venezuela by way of Panama City, was competing in his thirteenth fight slated for 11 or 12 rounds. With the defeat, his record dipped to 35-7-1. The judges had it 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.

Tenshin Nasukawa

If the name resonates, it’s because he fought an exhibition with Floyd Mayweather in December of 2019. That didn’t go well for the baby-faced Japanese who was out of his league against a much larger man. Mayweather knocked him down with the first punch that he threw and stopped him in the opening round. Tenshin left the ring crying.

Heading in to that sad spectacle, witnessed by a reported 37,000, Tenshin Nasukawa, despite his tender age, was widely considered one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Tonight, at age 24 and competing as a featherweight, he made his official pro boxing debut, winning a 6-round unanimous decision over countryman Yuni Yonoha, a 10-year veteran who carried a 12-4-1 record. The judges had it 59-55 and 60-54 twice.

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