Japanese light flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki authored one of 2021’s biggest upsets last September by stopping WBC champ Kenshiro Teraji in the 10th round of an absolute war. Now, it looks as though the two will go at it again, as representatives held a press conference today to announce that they’d agreed to a spring rematch.
According to the organizers, the WBC ordered the fight due to both an uncalled clash of heads and Teraji’s (18-1, 10 KO) lengthy reign.
As much as it sucks to see yet another triumphant underdog forced to repeat their victories when the same courtesy is in no way reciprocated, they put on a hell of a show the first time around, so I can’t be too angry. This wasn’t a case of a longtime champion getting caught out of nowhere; Yabuki (13-3, 12 KO), who has only ever lost to top-notch fighters, was ahead on the scorecards but losing momentum when he finally managed to trap Teraji against the ropes and unload. There’s still intrigue there, and depending on whether Elwin Soto had a rematch clause, the timing could be perfect to set up a unification match with the hypothetical winner of Jonathan Gonzalez vs. either Hiroto Kyoguchi or Esteban Bermudez.