Thanongsak Simsri def. Christian Araneta
Thanongsak Simsri kicked off the television section of the map of Japan and adopted the Philippine contender Cristian Araneta for the vacant IBF lightweight title. The Thai Simsri has undertaken several trips to Japan, with great success on the road, with a knockout loss to two -time world champion Masamuchi Yabuki.
Araneta, on his part, fought twice in the world title elimination, although he was not successful in these tries. Despite being the smaller of the two, Simsri established his series from the beginning and Araneta went out in the early rounds. The Philippines found its moment to take advantage of a degree of confidence of Simsri; However, at the end of the third round, a massive counter of Araneta skipped the Thai.
Araneta closed the round strong and Simsri pinned against the ropes and landed several clean blows. Now, with Simsri dropping and bringing both men with deep cuts over their eyes, the fight has fallen into a definite rhythm.
Araneta physically imposed himself as the bigger man, chose his shots and hard South Poot Lefts on Simsri. But for most of most rounds, Simsri ended up significantly more volume, cut angles on Araneta and stayed on the outside.
The scorecards reflect the competitive nature of the struggle, as Simsri has just made a split decision to become a world champion and gain the biggest victory of his career. For Araneta, this must be a very frustrating result; He is now lost to the three best fighters on his resume, and this result was apparently avoidable if he could only find a little more pace.
Reiya Abe def. Yuya oku
Next on the map was a classic veteran versus prospect match for the Japanese featherweight title, who saw the experienced Southpaw Reiya Abe Square against the unbeaten prospect Yuya Oku.
From the beginning, Abe showed extraordinary footwork and slipped in and outside the series to slip into shots at random, and it usually avoids any OKU counter. Oku found a few more readings when the fight carried, and sometimes the veteran’s main movement has the pressure of the veteran, but the pressure of OKU was largely disrupted by Abe’s smooth movement and stinging lefts.
His work rate remained consistent in terms of his movement and his combinations. Oku did his best to want himself in the fight, but by the time the ten rounds ended, the damage clearly accumulated on him.
It was a truly impressive, rotary, veteran performance by Abe, which continues on the Comeback route after having a cruel knockout to Luis Alberto Lopez in 2024. As for Yuya Oku, it was a wonderful learning fight for a fighter early in his career. He improved tremendously as the fight went on, and I’m sure he will get better at the Japanese domestic level.
Sora Tanaka def. Takeru Kobata
In the co-chief event, Japanese amateur champion Sora Tanaka continued his campaign in the professional ranks against domestic talent Takeru Kobata. Tanaka is a fighter with a whole pressure, who pulls his enemy into his enemy and throws power shots with little concern about defense.
Despite being the shorter boxer, Tanaka had Kobata on the ropes from the beginning. Every power he landed shook Kobata to his core, but Kobata also had no problem finding his chances of cracking the outlook Tanaka.
The fight lasted only four rounds, but to be honest, Kobata did well to survive for so long, because he recorded a lustful amount of damage throughout the competition. There was hardly a dull moment, because both stood in the bag and exchanged Bell to Bell.
When the stop came, it was a little disappointing, because Kobata stayed on his feet and he just shook Tanaka, but the fight was pure actions and one of my favorites of the year so far. I don’t know how far Tanaka will move with his control style in the ranks, but I will be there to see every step he takes.
Brian Norman jr. Def. Jin sasaki
Eventually, in the main event, another Japanese offensive dynamo in Jin Sasaki has the extremely capable Brian Norman Jr. Challenged for his WBO welterweight title. Norman made it clear that there was a gap in the levels between the two, almost immediately by dropping the hometown hero twice in the first round.
Sasaki was barely deterred and put Norman under pressure, but his signature power affected the champion very little. Sasaki still did very well to force its kind of struggle while staying in Norman’s face, although he was constantly harming.
Many people would wither, but Sasaki never did. Norman remained constantly big throughout the fight and never seemed to be shocked and offers to land when Sasaki presented it.
It all crashed into the fifth round for the Challenger. While Sasaki withdrew after landing a stitch on the body, Norman landed a clean left hook and the Japanese fighter put cold in an immediate knockout of the year. It was an emphatic second defense of his title for the young champion in Norman.
The scenes were very worrying for Sasaki, who had to pull out. He showed a huge fighting spirit, but his angle probably had to pull him out with the amount of damage Norman put on him. Either way, this struggle was an incredible trickle on a very entertaining midweek card.
Last updated on 06/19/2025