Christian Medina had been ranked No. 1 by the WBO at bantamweight before he defeated Yoshiki Takei for the sanctioning body’s world title at 118lbs via fourth-round TKO earlier this month.
That left the No. 1 spot vacant. In stepped Tenshin Nasukawa, who had previously been the WBO’s No. 2 but was elevated in the organization’s most recent ratings update, which was released September 25 and reflects results through September 15.
Don’t expect Nasukawa to remain in that No. 1 spot long, however.
That’s because Nasukawa has agreed to face Takuma Inoue on November 24 for the vacant WBC title. In general, sanctioning bodies don’t rank fighters who own or are scheduled to fight for other organizations’ titles.
Nasukawa, 27, is a former kickboxing star in Japan who was initially known among boxing fans in the rest of the world for his exhibition against Floyd Mayweather Jnr in 2018. Nasukawa turned pro in earnest in 2023 and is now 7-0 (2 KOs). In his two fights this year, he outpointed former bantamweight titleholder Jason Moloney in February and the 14-1 Victor Santillian in June.
In the WBO’s rankings, Nasukawa is followed by Juan Francisco Estrada at No. 2, then Landi Ngxeke, Takei, Andrew Cain, Riku Masuda, Carlos Cuadras, Charlie Edwards, Vincent Astrolabio, Adrien Curiel, Reymart Gaballo, Michael Angeletti, Juan Zayas, Tomoya Tsuboi and Theophilous Kpakpo Allotey.
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.
