Popular kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa of Teiken Boxing Gym passed a class B license test to become a professional boxer with flying colors on Feb. 9 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

Before nearly 100 reporters, the 24-year-old Nasukawa, popularly known as ‘’a child prodigy,’’ had a three-round sparring session with top-ranked Japanese bantamweight Jin Minamide of Celes Boxing Sports Gym after the customary weigh-in, paper test and medical checkup.

Left-handed Nasukawa, moving very smoothly, sticked out sharp right jabs, fended off Minamide’s offense and did not allow him to land a clean hit.

Nasukawa displayed counterblows at a short distance, thereby showing his remarkable talent. Minamide, also left-handed, is scheduled to take a crack at the Japanese bantamweight title on March 20.

Nasukawa’s debut is planned in April and will be aired live by Amazon Prime Video. Details about his debut are expected to be formally announced at an early date.

After the sparring, Minamide said, ‘’I have a confidence in my speed. But his speed was more than I had expected. Since I knew I would be interviewed about my impressions of him, I had thought I would be able to give him the real challenge of professional boxing. But I couldn’t.’’

Nasukawa said, ‘’I am happy that I was able to pass ‘the examination’ since it was my first such test since my entrance exam for high school.’’

Asked about the reason why he had to turn a professional boxer, Nasukawa replied, ‘’I simply want to become stronger. I want to keep challenging. I don’t think boxing is superior to kick boxing. Both are splendid sports. I don’t have any particular target right at this moment.’’

Nasukawa said he started boxing on a full-fledged basis last year, and now he forgot ‘’how to kick.’’ He said he will have to adjust himself to boxing more in various aspects.

In this connection, Teikenn gym’s head Akihiko Honda said, ‘’Tenshin has been learning a lot. I mean he is learning some 10 times faster than I had expected. While I have been in this field for about 60 years, I have never seen a boxer like Tenshin. I am sure he will win a Japanese title within a year.’’

Nasukawa will fight either in the bantamweight or super bantamweight division. According to Honda, the gym will have Nasukawa visit Las Vegas, Nevada before making his debut so that he can have more sparring sessions.