Overview
- Tenshin Nasukawa won by technical knockout when Juan Francisco Estrada’s corner halted the bout before the 10th round at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.
- The eliminator granted the winner mandatory-challenger status with the WBC bantamweight title, which Nasukawa secured.
- The 27-year-old southpaw controlled the pace with speed and left hands, and a body shot in the sixth briefly dropped Estrada though the referee did not rule a knockdown.
- Nasukawa improved to 8–1 with 3 knockouts, while the 35-year-old Estrada fell to 45–5 in a setback to his bid for a third-division crown.
- The result strengthens Japan’s recent edge in lighter-weight bouts between Japan and Mexico and sets up a world title shot for Nasukawa as the WBC’s mandatory challenger.