Some of Japan’s finest current and former fighters will lace up the gloves to raise money for the country’s medical workers on February 11th. Earlier today, a press conference revealed the exhibition lineup for LEGEND, which features a number of major figures in Japanese combat sports.
The six fight roster:
Reigning WBA “super” light flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9 KO) faces retired three-division champion Akira Yaegashi (28-7, 16 KO). Yaegashi is a slugger to the core, but since Kyoguchi has a title defense against Axel Aragon Vega scheduled for March, I doubt they’ll have a proper throwdown.
Former longtime super featherweight king Takashi “KO Dynamite” Uchiyama (24-2-1, 20 KO) meets 28-year-old Japanese champ Kosuke Saka (21-5, 18 KO).
Former flyweight champ Sho Kimura (19-3-2, 12 KO) welcomes K-1 veteran Yoshiki Takae to the boxing ring.
Onetime super welterweight title challenger Takeshi Inoue (17-1-1, 10 KO) fights prospective Olympian Yuito Moriwaki.
IBF-ranked super lightweight Andy Hiraoka (16-0, 11 KO) faces another Team Japan representative in Daisuke Narimatsu.
19-year-old welterweight prospect Jin Sasaki (10-0, 9 KO) takes on amateur standout Seon Okazawa
A seventh bout sees bantamweight ruler Naoya Inoue (20-0, 17 KO) meet TBA.
Intergenerational conflict for a good cause? Sign me up.