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Anthony Olascuaga sensed the stars were aligned earlier this summer.
All he had to do for his part was to win his next bout, which he did – and in emphatic fashion.
Olascuaga, the reigning WBO 112lbs title claimant, is keen to next face unified WBA/WBC titlist Ricardo Sandoval in an all-California clash. Olascuaga cleared out a mandatory title defense with a rousing second-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Juan Carlos Camacho on Thursday at Fontainebleau’s BleauLive Theater in Las Vegas.
The occasion marked Olascuaga’s first fight in the US since 2022, following five straight appearances in Japan. With the win, Olascuaga, 10-1 (7 KOs), is free to face whomever he would like for his next assignment.
There is no other direction he would rather travel than to the top of the division.
“Ricardo Sandoval is American; he’s from California, like me,” Olascuaga told BoxingScene. “That’s a fight that I can now see happening in L.A. or somewhere in the states.”
Ironically, Sandoval, 27-2 (18 KOs), also traveled to Japan from the Southern California region for his latest win. A 26-year-old flyweight from Rialto, Sandoval dethroned two-division and reigning WBC/WBA 112lbs champ Kenshiro Teraji via split decision on July 30 in Yokohama, Japan.
Teraji is responsible for the lone defeat on Olascauga’s record, which came via ninth-round knockout in their April 2023 lineal/WBC/WBA 108lbs championship affair.
Olascuaga took the fight on less than two weeks’ notice in place of an ill Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez. He dropped down from flyweight for the opportunity but was overmatched in the last-minute title fight, which came in just his sixth pro bout.
Five straight wins have since followed for “La Princesa,” including his high-profile beatdown of Camacho live on DAZN. Prior to Sandoval-Teraji, Olascuaga wasn’t entirely sure of his next move given the resistance from Teraji to run it back, even with three belts at stake.
That changed in a big way earlier this summer.
“It’s going to sound weird, but Kenshiro losing really made the division that much more accessible for me to fight for the other belts,” noted Olascuaga. “Kenshiro already said in the past that he wasn’t interested in fighting me again. In his mind, he already beat me, so there went my shot.
“I wasn’t rooting for him to lose and I wasn’t happy that he lost. But from a business perspective, it opened up a door for being able to fight for the belts I’ve always wanted.”
Sandoval’s first title defense was not yet announced as this story goes to publication. It was theorized that his own lucrative rematch with Teraji could be in play for either later this year or early 2026. However, nothing concrete has yet come from those rumors.
