The fighters set to appear on the undercard of the double world title event (Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani and Takuma Inoue vs. Kazuto Ioka) at Tokyo Dome on May 2 held a press conference in Yokohama on the 30th. This Dome event, headlined by the Inoue-Nakatani superfight, will feature a total of seven matches and will be broadcast via PPV on Lemino.
田中㊧の持つOPBF王座に佐々木が挑む注目のウェルター級戦
The Tanaka-Sasaki clash is a bout to determine the top welterweight in the country. While Sasaki holds the edge in professional career experience, including a world title challenge, Tanaka has been boxing since early childhood, and both are 24 years old. The current champion, Tanaka, revealed, “Since turning pro, I’ve fought with the mindset of wanting to catch up to Sasaki as quickly as possible.” Sasaki also promoted the fight as being on par with a world title match, stating, “Both Tanaka and I have the ability to become world champions.” The two have sparred together as recently as last year, making this an exceptionally intriguing matchup.
Regarding the fight, Tanaka said, “(Sasaki) has speed, power, and a great sense of timing. I can’t let my guard down for a single second.” Meanwhile, Sasaki remarked, “I want to be wary of everything Tanaka brings to the table.” Drawing inspiration from Tanaka’s first name (Sora, meaning “sky”), he expressed his vivid determination: “First, I’ll make it cloudy, then I’ll make it rain, and finally, I plan to strike him down with a bolt of lightning.”
