Unbeaten Japanese prodigy Naoya Inoue (8-0, 7 KOs) will make his initial defense of the WBO junior bantamweight belt after a one-year hiatus due to a hand injury against #1 ranked Warlito Parrenas (24-6-1, 21 KOs) of the Philippines in Tokyo, Japan, on December 29. On the same show, formerly two-time world champ Akira Yaegashi (22-5, 12 KOs) will have an ambitious crack at the IBF junior flyweight throne against Javier Mendoza (24-2-1, 19 KOs), a southpaw Mexican puncher handled by Erik Morales. If successful, it will be his third belt in addition to the WBA light-fly and WBC fly belts that he previously he held.
Japanese heavyweight champ, WBC#14 Kyotaro Fujimoto (13-1, 7 KOs) utilized his speed in hand and foot and showed a quick demolition of Mexican David Torres (10-2, 9 KOs) at 1:05 of the third round in Tokyo on October 21. Kyotaro, formerly a kick-boxer, showed his improvement in dispatching the heavier opponent in quick fashion.
Japanese feather champ Satoshi Hosono (29-2-1, 20 KOs) barely kept his national belt on a hairline majority nod (96-96, 97-94, 95-95) over Takuya Watanabe (26-6-1, 12 KOs) over ten hard-fought rounds on October 22. It was a main event with the female WBC/WBA 102-pound unification bout as a semi-windup on the show. Unbeaten WBO#4 bantam prospect Ryo Matsumoto (16-0, 14 KOs) patiently weakened a durable Thailander Saensak Sith. Varunee and finally stopped him at 0:35 of the fifth canto in a scheduled eight. Matumoto, tall and hard-hitting, looked promising and progressive enough to welcome a near-future world title crack next year.
Naoko Fujioka (14-1, 6 KOs), WBA female super-fly champ, acquired her third belt when she, 40, won the vacant WBO bantamweight belt by defeating Korean Hee-Jung Yuh (15-3, 6 KOs) on a nearly shutout decision (100-90 twice, 99-91) over lopsided ten in Tokyo on October 19. Fujioka proved too fast, elusive and effective for Yuh, who fought well but was apparently outclassed by the quicker contestant.
Unbeaten bantam prospect, WBO#3 Shohei Omori (15-0, 10 KOs) will face Filipino lefty, WBO#1 Marlon Tapales (27-2, 10 KOs) in Kyoto city on December 16. It was announced by Shoji Omori (no relation to the headliner) of Woz Promotions. The winner will be promised a world title shot to WBO 118-pound titlist Pungluang Sor. Singyu of Thailand. It is rare to see such a big fight to be held in the old ex-capital with many traditinal temples and shrines.