Above: Jai Opetaia and Skye Nicolson will both be on the Beterbiev-Bivol card in Riyadh. (Photos by Richard Pelham/Getty Images (left) and James Chance/Getty Images)

By Anthony Cocks

Jai Opetaia and Skye Nicolson set to return to action in Saudi Arabia on October 12

Ring Magazine/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will have his third fight in a row at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when he defends his titles against England’s Jack Massey on the undercard of the undisputed world light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on October 12.

The 29-year-old Australian southpaw is clearly the class of the division and shouldn’t have too much trouble against the gritty 31-year-old Massey (22-2, 12 KOs), who is two fights removed from his 10-round decision loss to Joseph Parker at heavyweight in January of last year.

Joining Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) on the card is fellow Australian Skye Nicolson (11-0, 1 KO). The WBC featherweight titleholder will make her second defense against England’s Raven Chapman (9-0, 2 KOs). Victory for the 29-year-old lefty will consolidate her case for a shot at Ring Magazine 126-pound champion Amanda Serrano, who is slated to jump up three weight classes to challenge The Ring’s junior welterweight champion, Katie Taylor, in a rematch on November 15.

Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa clear the path for all-Australian showdown

Junior middleweights Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa appear to be on a collision course following their recent victories.

Tszyu (10-0, 8 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw, looked like an improved boxer in stopping Koen Mazoudier in the ninth round of their 10-round contest at the ICC Sydney Theatre in Sydney on August 28. On the undercard, the 32-year-old Zerafa (32-5, 20 KOs) claimed an opening-round TKO when his opponent, veteran Tommy Browne, could not continue after suffering a torn left biceps.

Michael Zerafa weighs in for his fight against Tommy Browne. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Zerafa signed a three-fight deal with Tszyu’s promoter, No Limit Boxing. The plan is to match him with Nikita and, if he comes through victorious, No Limit will consider putting him in against older brother Tim Tszyu, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior middleweight.

Alex Winwood defeated but not disgraced

It always looked like a bold move, to challenge one of the best there ever was in the 105-pound weight class with less than two years of professional experience. That didn’t stop West Australian strawweight Alex Winwood from trying in his fifth pro bout.

The 27-year-old from Mandurah went all-in against boxing’s longest-reigning world titleholder, the WBA’s Thammanoon Niyomtrong (aka Knockout CP Freshmart, 25-0, 9 KOs) at HBF Stadium in Perth on September 8.

Winwood (4-1, 2 KOs) wanted to top hall of famer Jeff Fenech’s Australian record of winning a sanctioning body belt in seven fights or less.

He came up short.

The Tokyo Olympian fought his guts out and recovered from two knockdowns to be defeated by the slimmest of margins. This observer thought the 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113 scorecards were too close, but so what?

Winwood dared to be great. More boxers should follow his lead.

By Yuriko Miyata

Naoya Inoue will return in December

The business of The Monster keeps rolling and growing. Naoya Inoue defended his undisputed 122-pound championship against TJ Doheny in front of a full house of 15,000 spectators inside Ariake Arena in Tokyo on September 3. 

It wasn’t at the same level as his first bout of 2024, a thrilling up-from-the-canvas KO of Luis Nery on May 6, when he drew 43,000 to the Tokyo Dome. However, Lemino, the VOD OTT service operated by NTT Docomo that exclusively streams Inoue’s bouts in Japan, provided live viewings of his seventh-round stoppage of Doheny in more than 100 major movie theaters in all 47 prefectures for a flat rate $36 ($23 for under-18 fans) for the first time ever. 

The ending of the match was sudden and anticlimactic as the former IBF beltholder from Ireland signaled to the referee that he could not continue after a body shot apparently immobilized his right leg. Team Doheny later stated that Inoue had hurt their fighter’s lower back with body shots landed in Round 6.  

Inoue delivers the body shot that apparently caused nerve damage in Doheny’s leg. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

Trainer Hector Bermudez and manager Mike Altamura attended the post-fight press conference on behalf of the injured fighter to report that Doheny, The Ring’s No. 7-rated junior featherweight, had damaged his sciatic nerve, which starts at the base of the spine and travels down through the pelvis into the leg. 

Inoue, who was deprived of a chance to score a dramatic finish the way he wished, showed up to the post-fight presser without any bruises on his face. 

“It was not bad what I did today,” Inoue said, “fighting carefully, breaking him down, little by little, catching him with my short right hand and picking it up in the sixth and seventh rounds. It all went as I planned. I did not feel his power that much. And I was ready to bring something exciting to the fans when the fight suddenly ended that way. It was unexpected. It is what it is.”

(Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

Inoue admitted that a part of the reason he began the bout by boxing patiently was to avoid the kind of defensive mistakes that led to him getting knocked down by Nery in his last fight. He added that he also took his time to see how he felt at his heaviest post-weigh-in weight. Inoue weighed 138.4 pounds on fight night, a gain of 16.4 pounds after the weigh-in, while Doheny gained an astonishing 24.3 pounds to weigh 145.9 on fight night, a Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) record. 　

“I intended to recover as much weight as possible without it slowing me down,” Inoue said. “Now I am seeing what’s my best weight for the best performance in preparation for moving up [to the 126- and 130-pound divisions] in a couple of years. To be honest, I felt slightly heavy today.”

Inoue’s father and trainer, Shingo Inoue, was satisfied with his son’s execution.

“Naoya was sharp, he fought intelligently, and he did what we discussed prior to the fight,” he said. “We never underestimated Doheny. I was happy with what he did in the ring tonight.”

What’s also good about the relatively easy night was that Inoue was healthy and able to announce immediately that he would be back in the ring in December. If he does return before the end of 2024, it will be the first time he’s fought three times in a calendar year since 2017. 

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and Inoue’s manager, former world champion Hideyuki Ohashi, agreed to have Inoue do another fight in Japan and then head back to Las Vegas in 2025. Ohashi named Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior featherweight, as a possible opponent for the December bout, adding that the team totally understands that WBA mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev is waiting. 

“We know it’s a champion’s duty to clear mandatory fights, and we sincerely try to do it,” Ohashi said, “but also we know that it’s hard to keep all four belts and follow the rules of all four organizations at the same time.” 

Takei calls out Tenshin 

The co-feature to Inoue-Doheny was a 12-round bantamweight slugfest between defending WBO titleholder Yoshiki Takei and former flyweight belholder Daigo Higa that stole the show. Takei, who overcame an 11th-round knockdown, retained his title by narrow scores of 114-113 (twice) and 115-112. 

Takei, The Ring’s No. 4-rated bantamweight, appeared at the post-fight presser with some fresh cuts and marks on his face. 

Takei splits Higa’s guard with a long-range jab. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“I loved fighting with him,” he said. “I prepared uppercuts to hit him [as he was coming in], but he was ready to counter with left hooks on those. His pressure, his heart, all that was hard for me to get over. Honestly, I don’t think I overcame them. I just did my best not to lose my courage. After 12 rounds, we were so thankful to each other. Daigo told me, ‘You go stronger and higher.’ It could not be that good a fight without him. I cannot like my performance. I need to improve. I have to improve my boxing all around to survive in this world.” 

The 28-year-old former kickboxer explained to the media why he called out the name of Tenshin Nasukawa, who fights for a regional bantamweight title on October 14, in the ring immediately after the Higa bout. 

Tenshin Nasukawa tags Luis Pacheco. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

Both have stellar kickboxing backgrounds, but Takei was the K-1 champion, while Nasukawa was rival kickboxing organization RIZIN’s superstar.

“I wish I could have fought Tenshin when I was in K-1,” he said, “but it never happened. So, I’ve dreamed of fighting him in boxing since he became a professional boxer. I would like to fight Tenshin as soon as I can. That will be great if it comes true.”

Takei vs. Nasukawa has a good storyline and would sell well, but so would 118-pound title unification fights with Takei’s fellow Japanese beltholders: Junto Nakatnai, Takuma Inoue and Ryosuke Nishida.

Higa calls it a career

“It was a good fight. I am satisfied. I’m done with boxing and I have no regrets at all. That’s my honest feeling now.”

Daigo Higa smiled in front of the familiar faces of reporters in the press room after his close decision loss to Takei. It was his first attempt at a major world title in the six years since he was stopped by Cristofer Rosales after being stripped of the WBC flyweight belt on the scale – the first time that a Japanese fighter failed to make weight for a world title bout. 

Higa in training for the Takei fight. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

It took Higa two years to get back in the ring after the dishonor that left the then-22-year-old at an emotional loss. And even when on the comeback trail, he suffered setbacks to then-Japanese champion Seiya Tsutsumi, who held him to a draw in 2020, and current IBF titleholder Ryosuke Nishida, who outpointed him in 2021. 

Higa won four bouts in a row following the loss to Nishida, enough to earn a No. 10 bantamweight rating by The Ring, so he  appreciated the opportunity to finally fight for a world title again. Higa said he had nothing left to do in the sport during his two-month camp with longtime trainer Joji Nogi.

Higa’s final defense of his WBC flyweight title was a first-round knockout of Moises Fuentes in 2018. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“I heard the cheers in the big arena during the walk to the ring,” he said. “I went into the ring thanking everyone on my team for bringing me here again. I think I can say I am satisfied with my fight and my performance for the first time. I’ve relied on my punching power my entire career, but this time I listened to the advice behind me. Takei had his unique style and good distance. I felt his power through my guard. The counter left hook that knocked him down in the 11th round was a punch that coach Nogi told me would work. I should have gone harder after the knockdown, maybe, so that I did not give him a chance to counterattack like that. But I am glad I could get through the hard time he gave me in the last round to hear the final bell. 

“It’s been a good 10 years working with coach Nogi since I was 18 years old. During my comeback, I was on and off on my boxing but my team never left me. I am deeply grateful to them. I also thank my fans from my native Okinawa for coming all the way here today. Thank you for your support from the beginning. I have no regrets. My team understands what I mean.” 

A classic slugger with affable charm, Higa (21-3-1, 19 KOs) did not use the word “retiring” but looked totally peaceful.

October Fest in Japan boxing

The Ariake Arena will be filled with boxing fans again when it hosts the two-day promotion “Prime Video Boxing 10” on the long holiday weekend of October 13 and 14. 

Seven world title bouts and one special attraction were announced at Tokyo Dome Hotel on August 22. The stacked cards on back-to-back days is an unprecedented project in Japanese history, representing the prosperity of the current boxing industry, which dominates lighter-weight divisions with 11 major world titleholders. 

Left to right: Shokichi Iwata, Kenshiro Teraji, Junto Nakatani, Takuma Inoue, Kosei Tanaka, Seigo Yuri Akui, Seiya Tstusumi and Tenshin Nasukawa. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

The program for Sunday the 13th includes four world title fights, though its running order is not fixed yet.

WBA bantamweight titleholder Takuma Inoue makes his third defense against Seiya Tsutsumi, The Ring’s No. 9-rated contender.

“I want to make this all-Japanese fight exciting for the fans,” said Inoue, The Ring’s No. 3-rated bantamweight, who defended his title against Sho Ishida at Tokyo Dome in May. 

“This is the fight that I’ve waited for a long, long time,” said Tsutsumi of Inoue, who he lost to in the semifinal of the national high school tournament 12 years ago. “I know the champion is high in boxing IQ and skills, but I am determined to attack him hard. That’s my boxing. Avenging my loss to him and becoming a world champion at the same time is perfect. I’ll make it come true.”

Inoue and Tsutsumi. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

The Ring 108-pound champion, Kenshiro Teraji, returns to the ring after recovering from a right hand injury that he suffered in the tough 12 rounds he went with Carlos Canizales in January. Teraji takes on Nicaragua’s Cristofer Rosales for the WBC flyweight title vacated by Julio Cesar Martinez (and that he once held). Teraji confirmed that his hand was healed completely. 

“Now I can punch with 100 percent power,” said the veteran. “Getting into the competition at flyweight, where familiar faces are thriving, makes me feel fresh and excited. But I will try not to get excited and brawl too much this time. I want to leave the ring healthy.” 

WBA flyweight champion Seigo “Yuri” Akui will fight Thai veteran Thananchai Charunphak in his second defense. Akui, The Ring’s No. 3-rated flyweight, agreed with Teraji in that he is motivated by the very active 112-pound division. 

Kenshiro Teraji (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“I feel people are watching the flyweight scene,” he said. “As a champion, of course I want to stand out there. I want to make a statement that I am the best here to proceed to bigger fights like unifications.”

Shokichi Iwata, The Ring’s No. 7-rated junior flyweight, makes his second attempt at the WBO 108-pound title since he lost to Jonathan Gonzalez in November 2022. Iwata, who is on a four-bout win streak, faces Jairo Noriega of Spain for the vacant belt. 

“I am glad that I am back here for the world title again,” he said. “I had a hard time after I lost in my first challenge for the world title. I can say I’ve changed over these two years in boxing, in skills and also in my mental toughness.”

As for Monday the 14th, National Sports Day in Japan, the main card includes four features.

Super-popular Tenshin Nasukawa appears in his fifth pro boxing bout, just three months after he dominated Jonathan Rodriguez to a third-round stoppage. The bantamweight up-and-comer is fighting undefeated Gerwin Asilo of the Philippines for his first pro title, the WBO Asian Pacific championship, which was vacated by current world titleholder Ryosuke Nishida. 

Tenshin Nasukawa (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“I am grateful for this opportunity to challenge for a title in my fifth fight,” said the former kickboxing champ. “I know this is just one part of the process to become a world champion for me, but I will prepare myself for the fight mentally, technically, physically.” 

Four-division world titleholder Kosei Tanaka makes the first defense of his WBO 115-pound title against Phumelele Cafu of South Africa. Tanaka, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior bantamweight, says he’s keeping with his goal of becoming “undisputed” in his fourth weight division. 

WBO flyweight titleholder Anthony “Princessa” Olascuaga, a Los Angeles native who is promoted by Teiken, will fly to Tokyo, where he captured the title in July, to defend it for the first time against slick veteran Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez, a former 108-pound beltholder. 

It’s interesting that Olascuaga will meet Gonzalez for the world title. It was Olascuaga who replaced Gonzalez against Teraji last April when the Puerto Rican southpaw got sick and pulled out. It was such a fan-pleasing fight that Olascuaga, who took it with two weeks’ notice, earned a lot of respect even though he was stopped in the ninth round. 

“Bomba is a world champion and a skilled southpaw, but I will keep my belt and prove that I deserve a rematch with Kenshiro,” he said. “I want to fight him again to see how I’ve improved after the first fight.”

Three-division world titleholder Junto Nakatani will headline the Oct. 14 event. The WBC bantamweight titleholder looked classy in his custom-ordered suit seated center stage, but he had to head straight to the airport immediately after the presser to fly to Los Angeles and reunite with his coach, Rudy Hernandez, for an intensive camp. Nakatani, The Ring’s No. 1-rated bantamweight, signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank right after finishing veteran Vincent Astrolabio with one left shot to the body in the opening round in July. He will make the second defense of his WBC belt against Tasana Salapat (aka Petch CP Freshmart), who lost a unanimous decision to Takuma Inoue in 2018. The southpaw Thailander will be Nakatani’s first leftie opponent since Filipino Philip Luis Cuerdo in 2019. 

Junto Nakatani (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“Finishing my last fight with one punch was maybe a little too short for me but exciting for the fans,” said Nakatani, who is a southpaw himself. “I am looking forward to fighting a southpaw for the first time in a long time. I will get prepared well, be the first to attack, show my ability to adjust and produce another KO.” 

Nakatani will now get to work in his second home of Los Angeles with once-beaten switch-hitter Japhethlee Llamido (12-1, 4 KOs) and two lefties, amateur standout Kevin Gudino and Osaka featherweight prospect Kaishu Harada (4-0, 2 KOs). 

Nakatani watched Inoue-Doheny in the very early hours of September 3 and had the following thoughts:

“Interesting fight. I was watching it like I was facing [Inoue]. I understand it will be an extremely difficult assignment, but that is why I am extremely excited about [an eventual showdown].”

By Droeks Malan

Xolisani Ndongeni continued his globetrotting, this time dropping down to lightweight to face unbeaten Argentine Alan Abel Chaves in Buenos Aires. He was unable to break the gatekeeper role, which he had slipped into primarily as a junior welterweight in recent years, losing a unanimous 10-round decision by two scores of 96-93 and a third card of 98-91. 

Ndongeni began the fight by circling away from the southpaw Chaves’ left, although the punch still sporadically found the target. 

He elected to stand and trade in the seventh, banging away to the body of Chaves and bringing his uppercuts and hooks upstairs to the head at close quarters. His success soon faded when he was staggered by a right hook followed moments later by a right uppercut.

In the fifth, he bounced several straight right hands off the chin of Chaves, only to be dropped by a right hook to the top of the head. Chaves tried to go after him, but Ndongeni was savvy enough to survive.

Much like in his outings against Arnold Barboza Jr. and Raymond Muratalla earlier this year, Ndongeni never gave up and fought back in spurts, even having a big closing round. Still, it was not enough and Chaves, despite bleeding from a gash over his right eye in the last two rounds, consistently landed the more telling blows, specifically with his straight left.

Click to watch the fight on YouTube>

***

Former welterweight fringe contender Chris van Heerden finally announced his retirement on social media platforms after a career that saw him compile a very respectable 28-3-1 record with 12 stoppages and one no-contest.

Chris van Heerden raises the South African flag after his victory over Ramon Ayala in Hollywood, California, in 2015. (Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images for Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation)

After winning the African Boxing Union belt in 2008 by stopping Hassan Saku in eight rounds, he added the vacant national title in his next fight, stopping Page Tshesane in 11 rounds, avenging an earlier draw. He made three successful defenses of his South African title with a split decision loss to Nikola Stevanovic on the road in Serbia sandwiched in between.

He picked up the IBO’s marginal world title in 2011, winning a unanimous 12-round decision over former world title challenger Kaizer Mabuza. He defended that belt twice, winning decisions over two more former world title challengers, Sebastian Andres Lujan and former European champion Matthew Hatton.

Then came a hard decision: Feeling that his career had stalled, he made a bold move and relocated to the U.S. in 2014. Packing your bags to campaign in another country is a move only attempted by a handful of South Africans. It was a path fraught with landmines. 

In the 1950s, there was flyweight contender Jake Tuli, who based himself in the U.K. He became Commonwealth champion and the number one contender for the world title, an opportunity that never came. Much later, there were heavyweights Courage Tshabalala and probably the most well known of them all, Francois Botha, who fought almost every big-name heavyweight at the time. 

Four wins later, van Heerden landed his big break, facing future unified world champion and pound-for-pounder Errol Spence Jr. in Toronto, Canada. It was a step too far. Van Heerden was brave but ultimately outclassed, getting stopped in eight rounds.

Van Heerden was stopped in the eighth round of his fight against Errol Spence Jr. in September 2015. (Photo by Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

He was back the next year, winning a majority decision over recent Teofimo Lopez challenger Steve Claggett. Four more wins followed, spaced out over four years, before he found himself in another big fight in 2020. 

Just like the Spence fight, it was another massive mountain to climb, this time in the form of current IBF champion Jaron Ennis. The fight was over before it got a chance to get going. An accidental head butt opened a gash on van Heerden that forced the fight to be declared a “no contest.”

He got one more shot at glory in 2022, facing streaking Conor Benn in the U.K. It was not to be, and a Benn right hand ended matters in the second round. That turned out to be van Heerden’s last fight.

Never the slickest of defensive boxers, the southpaw from Meyerton, Gauteng, was not blessed with fight-ending power, either. Gritty to the core, he relied on superb conditioning, fundamentals and heart to best his opponents. He may have fallen short at the very top of the fight game, but he always gave his all and fans their money’s worth while scoring some solid victories along the way. Outside the ring, he overcame the murder of his father and bouts of inactivity to forge a career as a personal trainer in Santa Monica, California. His story is a testament to what can be accomplished through hard work and determination.

The South African boxing community wishes him well.