When is Kenshiro Teraji vs. Ricardo Sandoval?
Kenshiro Teraji vs. Ricardo Sandoval is on Wednesday, July 30. The broadcast will begin at 5:50 a.m. ET (10:50 a.m. BST).
What channel is Kenshiro Teraji vs. Ricardo Sandoval on?
Where is Kenshiro Teraji vs. Ricardo Sandoval?
The fight is taking place at Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama, Japan.
Who is Kenshiro Teraji?
Kenshiro Teraji, 25-1 (16 KOs), is the WBA and WBC flyweight titleholder. Although his 33 years of age may make the last part of his “The Amazing Boy” nickname questionable, his resume is otherwise befitting of “The Amazing.”
Teraji, who hails from outside of the city of Kyoto, Japan, has unified world titles in two weight classes. This will be his 18th straight title fight. Most of his career has been title fights; he’s 16-1 in those bouts and avenged the sole defeat. And he has nine wins over opponents who held world titles, previously owned world titles or went on to win them. That number climbs to 11 if you include opponents who held secondary belts.
At junior flyweight, in his 10th pro bout, Teraji won the WBC title in 2017 with a majority decision over Ganigan Lopez. He made eight straight successful defenses, including a majority decision over former titleholder Pedro Guevara, a second-round knockout of Lopez in their rematch and a seventh-round stoppage of former titleholder Milan Melindo.
Teraji’s title run came to a surprising halt in September 2021, when he suffered a 10th-round TKO loss to Masamichi Yabuki. They had an immediate rematch in March 2022, and Teraji regained his title via third-round knockout.
Then, in his next outing, Teraji added the WBA title and Ring championship with a seventh-round TKO of former titleholder Hiroto Kyoguchi in November 2022. He wrapped his run at 108lbs with victories over Anthony Olascuaga (who has since gone on to win a flyweight title), former Ring champion Hekkie Budler and Carlos Canizales.
Last October, Teraji moved up to 112lbs and nabbed the vacant WBC title with an 11th-round technical knockout over former titleholder Cristofer Rosales. This past March, Teraji was in an absolute war in a unification bout with WBA titleholder Seigo Yuri Akui. Down on two scorecards entering the final round, Teraji stopped Akui with about 90 seconds to go.
That was just four and a half months ago. How much did the battle with Akui take out of Teraji? Has he had enough time to recover? And if Teraji beats Sandoval, what will come next?
Teraji has already beaten the other flyweight titleholders, Yabuki (IBF) and Olascuaga (WBO). A rematch with Akui seems appropriate at some point in the near future. Yankiel Rivera is the No. 1 contender for the WBA belt. Galal Yafai, who was battered by Francisco Rodriguez Jnr in June, has regained his interim WBC belt after Rodriguez tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug.
Or will Teraji head to junior bantamweight and take aim at the winner of November’s three-belt unification bout between Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Fernando Martinez?
Who is Ricardo Sandoval?
Ricardo Sandoval, 26-2 (18 KOs), is a 26-year-old from Rialto, California, who is part of the Golden Boy Promotions roster. He is ranked No. 2 by the WBC and No. 3 by the WBA. Sandoval will be fighting for a world title for the first time after earning a shot four years ago and then subsequently losing the ability to cash in on that privilege.
In June 2021, Sandoval knocked out the 18-1 Jay Harris in eight rounds in an IBF eliminator. While awaiting his opportunity against titleholder Sunny Edwards, Sandoval took on perpetual bridesmaid Carlos Buitrago and stopped him in seven. But in July 2022, Sandoval entered another elimination bout, this one for the WBA title, and was dropped en route to losing a narrow majority decision to David Jimenez.
Jimenez went on to lose a title fight at 112lbs but now holds an interim belt at 115lbs. For Sandoval, meanwhile, that was his second professional defeat – the first came early in his career in his fifth pro bout – and he has won six straight since.
The most notable of those victories was a decision in 2023 over the 22-1 Rocco Santomauro (who had lost before to Diego De La Hoya and afterward to Galal Yafai) and a 10th-round TKO in 2024 of former junior flyweight titleholder Angel Acosta. In Sandoval’s last appearance, he widely outpointed the 10-1 Saleto Henderson in February.
What other fights are on the undercard of Kenshiro Teraji vs. Ricardo Sandoval?
The undercard includes two more title fights: Antonio Vargas vs. Daigo Higa and Erick Rosa vs. Kyosuke Takami.
Vargas, 19-1 (11 KOs), is making his first defense of the WBA bantamweight title. He won the interim belt in December with a 10th-round TKO of the 22-0 Winston Guerrero, then was upgraded when the previous primary titleholder, Seiya Tsutsumi, was reclassified as the “champion in recess” due to an injury.
Higa, 21-3-2 (19 KOs), is a former flyweight titleholder who is coming off a draw with Tsutsumi in February and a narrow loss to WBO bantamweight titleholder Yoshiki Takei last September.
Rosa, 8-0 (2 KOs), will be defending his WBA junior flyweight title for the first time after capturing the vacant belt in December with a unanimous decision over the 14-1-2 Neider Valdez Aguilar.
Takami is 9-0 (7 KOs) and coming off a sixth-round TKO in April of the 11-1 Toshiki Kawamitsu.
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
