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First, as stated in the title this is only a RUMOR from "associated personnel" aka Japanese boxing leakers/individual writers and it has not been reported or confirmed by any official news website in Japan. However, it is picking up enough steam atleast on this side of the Pacific Ocean so it may be a food for thought.
Recently, Ohashi in an interview basically confirmed that Naoya Inoue and Yoshiki Takei will be fighting together in December. He also hinted that everyone will be in for a "huge surprise" on the opponent for Takei. However, having just finished fighting Moloney on May and Higa on September, looking at the WBO rankings there isn't really many that could be considered a potential "huge surprise" regarding Takei. The likes of David Cuellar or Christian Medina aren't exactly a huge surprise, he's not going to rematch Moloney (plus it isn't a "huge" surprise), the highest ranked Japanese Tsutsumi is facing Takuma this weekend, and he's not going to be facing his former kickboxing rival Tenshin Nasukawa yet (plus he's also fighting this weekend) as Nasukawa himself said he's hoping for it later next year which is more likely. That leaves the other beltholders for an unification but Nakatani/Takuma is occupied this weekend as well, and Nishida is free but there are other rumors saying that he's going to be taking an easy voluntary defense as a homecoming event in his hometown Osaka as a main event so it is unlikely that they fight now, not to mention his promotor (Kameda) isn't on very good terms with Ohashi which is why only he seems like he's out of the loop of Japanese bantam fighters. So at first glance, there doesn't really seem like there is a so-called huge surprise that is available to him...unless he looks at the big names from the weight below.
On a possibly related note, there has been a frequently lit rumor the past month that Chocolatito's next fight will be in Japan this winter, and as of the most recent rankings Chocolatito is currently ranked 1st on 115 WBA/C/O. First of all, for the 115 beltholders Martinez are semi-confirmed to be having a rematch with Ioka in December, and Bam also already has a fight with Guevara for November in America. Tanaka, the last 115 beltholder is fighting this weekend along with Nakatani/Takuma/Teraji/Olascuaga/etc on the huge Japan card so none of the beltholders are realistically available for December. For the non-belt holders around 115, there is absolutely zero reason that Chocolatito will fight in Japan for an Estrada 4 or a fight against Donaire (if he isn't officially retired) or the likes of non-Japanese boxer, plus given that he's already at the top ranking there really isn't a reason to fight them in their territory. Chocolatito has also said he's going to be fighting at 118, but given his name value I don't see him fighting a Japanese 118 non-belt holding contender at this point. If he's fighting in Japan, its gotta be for a belt or at the least, an eliminator IMO.
Due to the respect between Honda and Ohashi, they make sure not to make huge announcements prior to one other's major cards. Thus, Teiken didn't officially announce the October 7-world title fight card until after Inoue-Doheny, and Ohashi will likely not officially announce the details regarding the December Inoue card (despite rumors everywhere all but confirming the 12/24 date). Meaning Ohashi won't confirm the Inoue card until atleast 2nd half of October, possibly early November.
Chocolatito is promoted by Teiken/Honda in Japan, who is major buddies with Ohashi which isn't a surprise given that they share boxers a lot to make the major cards (as seen with Takuma fighting on Teiken cards such as this weekend). Ohashi is also in good terms with Arum given their relation of Naoya. Chocolatito isn't ranked anywhere in 118 yet but given his accolades I doubt it is that hard to ask to get ranked high on 118 at this point. Also considering Takei is the beltholder for 118 WBO...if there is anyone that has some nice strings to pull with regards to WBO its Arum. WBO rankings also get updated in the 2nd half of the month. So, there is a solid possibility that in the October or November ranking updates, Chocolatito could suddenly pop up in the WBO 118 rankings in which case it will all but confirm that he's fighting Takei next IMO.
From Chocolatito/Honda's standpoint, he can possibly get 5th division belt against the likely weakest link of the current bantamweight beltholders and believes that he can defeat Takei via skills and defend himself from Takei's powers. Plus fighting on an Inoue card titlefight in Japan would give him more money than most other cards especially non-title fights.
From Takei/Ohashi's standpoint, for Takei it is a great name he can have on his resume and likely banking on that Chocolatito is getting old, plus going up another weight will make it so that Takei can overpower him within 12 rounds. For Ohashi, he would love to have Chocolatito on an Inoue undercard which will definitely make the card even more glorious, and he's shown the willingness to throw his guys into some hard matchups early on. Heck, who knows, as the beltholder maybe Ohashi could wrestle a rematch clause as well which in that case that gives him a potential second dip into a chance to throw it under another Inoue card.
Both fighters and promotors have a solid believable reasoning to think that they can come out a winner between the matchup.
Recently, Ohashi in an interview basically confirmed that Naoya Inoue and Yoshiki Takei will be fighting together in December. He also hinted that everyone will be in for a "huge surprise" on the opponent for Takei. However, having just finished fighting Moloney on May and Higa on September, looking at the WBO rankings there isn't really many that could be considered a potential "huge surprise" regarding Takei. The likes of David Cuellar or Christian Medina aren't exactly a huge surprise, he's not going to rematch Moloney (plus it isn't a "huge" surprise), the highest ranked Japanese Tsutsumi is facing Takuma this weekend, and he's not going to be facing his former kickboxing rival Tenshin Nasukawa yet (plus he's also fighting this weekend) as Nasukawa himself said he's hoping for it later next year which is more likely. That leaves the other beltholders for an unification but Nakatani/Takuma is occupied this weekend as well, and Nishida is free but there are other rumors saying that he's going to be taking an easy voluntary defense as a homecoming event in his hometown Osaka as a main event so it is unlikely that they fight now, not to mention his promotor (Kameda) isn't on very good terms with Ohashi which is why only he seems like he's out of the loop of Japanese bantam fighters. So at first glance, there doesn't really seem like there is a so-called huge surprise that is available to him...unless he looks at the big names from the weight below.
On a possibly related note, there has been a frequently lit rumor the past month that Chocolatito's next fight will be in Japan this winter, and as of the most recent rankings Chocolatito is currently ranked 1st on 115 WBA/C/O. First of all, for the 115 beltholders Martinez are semi-confirmed to be having a rematch with Ioka in December, and Bam also already has a fight with Guevara for November in America. Tanaka, the last 115 beltholder is fighting this weekend along with Nakatani/Takuma/Teraji/Olascuaga/etc on the huge Japan card so none of the beltholders are realistically available for December. For the non-belt holders around 115, there is absolutely zero reason that Chocolatito will fight in Japan for an Estrada 4 or a fight against Donaire (if he isn't officially retired) or the likes of non-Japanese boxer, plus given that he's already at the top ranking there really isn't a reason to fight them in their territory. Chocolatito has also said he's going to be fighting at 118, but given his name value I don't see him fighting a Japanese 118 non-belt holding contender at this point. If he's fighting in Japan, its gotta be for a belt or at the least, an eliminator IMO.
Due to the respect between Honda and Ohashi, they make sure not to make huge announcements prior to one other's major cards. Thus, Teiken didn't officially announce the October 7-world title fight card until after Inoue-Doheny, and Ohashi will likely not officially announce the details regarding the December Inoue card (despite rumors everywhere all but confirming the 12/24 date). Meaning Ohashi won't confirm the Inoue card until atleast 2nd half of October, possibly early November.
Chocolatito is promoted by Teiken/Honda in Japan, who is major buddies with Ohashi which isn't a surprise given that they share boxers a lot to make the major cards (as seen with Takuma fighting on Teiken cards such as this weekend). Ohashi is also in good terms with Arum given their relation of Naoya. Chocolatito isn't ranked anywhere in 118 yet but given his accolades I doubt it is that hard to ask to get ranked high on 118 at this point. Also considering Takei is the beltholder for 118 WBO...if there is anyone that has some nice strings to pull with regards to WBO its Arum. WBO rankings also get updated in the 2nd half of the month. So, there is a solid possibility that in the October or November ranking updates, Chocolatito could suddenly pop up in the WBO 118 rankings in which case it will all but confirm that he's fighting Takei next IMO.
From Chocolatito/Honda's standpoint, he can possibly get 5th division belt against the likely weakest link of the current bantamweight beltholders and believes that he can defeat Takei via skills and defend himself from Takei's powers. Plus fighting on an Inoue card titlefight in Japan would give him more money than most other cards especially non-title fights.
From Takei/Ohashi's standpoint, for Takei it is a great name he can have on his resume and likely banking on that Chocolatito is getting old, plus going up another weight will make it so that Takei can overpower him within 12 rounds. For Ohashi, he would love to have Chocolatito on an Inoue undercard which will definitely make the card even more glorious, and he's shown the willingness to throw his guys into some hard matchups early on. Heck, who knows, as the beltholder maybe Ohashi could wrestle a rematch clause as well which in that case that gives him a potential second dip into a chance to throw it under another Inoue card.
Both fighters and promotors have a solid believable reasoning to think that they can come out a winner between the matchup.
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