Saturday’s tripleheader is now down to two title fights and a makeshift matchup.
Kosei Tanaka will no longer move forward with his WBO flyweight title defense versus Mexico’s Jonathan Rodriguez. The development is through no fault of Tanaka (20-1, 11 knockouts), who made weight for their scheduled 12-round bout. Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 KOs) was miserably over the 115-pound limit, having missed weight by nearly seven pounds.
The disparity was deemed unfit for the matchup to proceed in present form.
Mexico’s Jonathan Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 knockouts) blew his shot at the WBO 115-pound title after he missed weight by more than six pounds. His bout versus defending titlist Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs), scheduled for July 20, was canceled. Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda
“The match is cancelled,” revealed Tanaka, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior bantamweight. “[Rodriguez] was 2.9kg over the limit and gave up on the re-weigh-in. Taking into consideration the physical condition of the opponent and the fact that a fight that has been declared invalid is not a good thing, the decision to cancel the match has been made.
“Tomorrow I will be appearing in the ring with a microphone instead of gloves. We apologize for the unfortunate news.”
試合中止です
相手選手が2.9kgオーバー
再計量も断念して計量失格相手選手の体調や
試合不成立になった戦いを行う事自体、本来良くない事
色々な事を踏まえて
試合中止という判断です明日はグローブではなく
マイクを持って
リングで皆さんに顔を見せます
残念なお知らせ誠に申し訳ございません。 pic.twitter.com/Eq3ehi74dy— 田中恒成/KOsei Tanaka (@KOsei530) July 19, 2024
Rodriguez will likely face disciplinary action from the no-nonsense Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC).
The other two title fights on the show remain intact.
Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 knockouts), No. 10 pound-for-pound defends his WBC 118-pound title versus the Philippines’ Vincent Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs). Nakatani is The Ring’s No. 1-rated bantamweight; Astrolabio is No. 7 and enters as Nakatani’s mandatory challenger.
Riku Kano (22-4-2, 11 KOs) and Anthony Olascuaga (6-1, 4 KOs) meet for the vacant WBO flyweight title.
Tenshin Nasukawa (3-0, 1 KO) meets Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Rodriguez (17-2-1, 7 KOs). A win is expected to push Nasukawa, a wildly popular former kickboxing star, closer to a title shot in the infancy of his boxing career.
All three bouts will air live on ESPN+, beginning at 5:00 a.m. ET/2:00 a.m. PT.