Kenshiro Teraji had to dig deep, very deep to retain his Ring Magazine, WBA and WBC junior flyweight titles against Carlos Canizales at the Edion Arena, Osaka, Japan on Tuesday, edging the stubborn challenger by 12-round majority decision.

The action was fast and frenetic from the opening bell with both men looking to do damage early.

The defending champion drew first blood when a glancing right hand clipped the top of Canizales’ head, robbing the tough veteran of his senses. Canizales stumbled and fell forward tackling Teraji. He rose on unsteady legs and with a minute left on the clock it looked like he may well get taken out. However, the tough Venezuelan hung tough and heard the bell for the second round.

If Teraji thought it was going to be a short following this knockdown, he was sorely mistaken. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

The stocky challenger was determined not to go quietly into the night and in the final 20 seconds of the third round he landed a picture-perfect right hand of his own that dropped Teraji, who bounced back up and took the mandatory 8-count from referee Luis Pabon.

Canizalez isn’t in Japan for the pay day.

— Douglass Fischer (@dougiefischer) January 23, 2024

At the conclusion of the fourth round the WBC’s opening scoring was in place and the two were level 37-37 on two scorecards, while the third had Canizales up 38-36.

The action intensified over the next few rounds with both men exchanging on near even terms.

After eight rounds the open scoring had 76-74 (twice) for Teraji and even on the third card (75-75).

Teraji began to work behind the jab only for Canizales to stun the Japanese standout in the 10th round. However, Teraji is as tough as he is skilled and he rebounded to claim the 11th and 12th on two of the judges scorecards, splitting them with the third judge.

Teraji’s jab was a key weapon in his narrow victory over the very game and effective Canizales. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

In the end, Teraji (23-1, 14 knockouts) was awarded the decision by scores of 114-112 (twice) and 113-113.

¡Le adoran! 😍

Así interactuaba Kenshiro Teraji 🇯🇵 con la fanaticada tras retener el Mundial Unificado 👑👑 WBC&WBA minimosca en un peleón contra Carlos Cañizales

🎥 @trboxeo #ESPNKnockOut #TerajiCanizales pic.twitter.com/Y4YsjMSkM5

— ESPN KnockOut (@ESPNKnockOut) January 23, 2024

Just as the championship rounds were pivotal in Jason Moloney retaining his WBO bantamweight title recently, they were here too.

According to CompuBox, Teraji outlanded Canizales in eight of the 12 rounds. Teraji landed 272 of 926 punches thrown for 29.4 percent connect rate. Canizales landed 243 of 963 punches for a 25.2 percent. The challenger averaged 80.3 punches per round, slightly more than Teraji’s 77.2.

It was closer than Teraji would have liked or many of us would have expected but the two threw down an early marker for Fight of The Year. Credit must also go to Canizales (26-2-1, 19 KOs) who will gain more in defeat than he has in many of his victories.

Canizales gave as good as he got, proving his high junior flyweight rankings. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

For those who stayed up late on the west coast for a 1 a.m. start (all hail Ring Editor-In-Chief Doug Fischer, who penned the fight report) or those who got up early at 4 a.m. ET to catch the ESPN+ broadcast, they were well rewarded.

I know some boxing fans don’t follow the lighter weights, but this showed just how good the little guys can be. It doesn’t get much better than this and if there’s a better fight in 2024, we can consider ourselves lucky.

It says here that Teraji has done enough to enter the International Boxing Hall of Fame one day. He’s been on the world stage since he claimed the WBC title in May 2017. He made eight successful defenses in four-and-a-half years. After rushing back from a bout with Covid-19 Teraji suffered his lone defeat at the hands of Masamichi Yabuki (TKO 10) in a strong Upsets of The Year candidate for 2021. Teraji threatened to walk away and begin a career as a sushi chef. However, he was convinced to fight on and exacted a measure of revenge akin to Lennox Lewis rematch KO of Hasim Rahman by stopping Yabuki (KO 3) in even more definitive fashion than how Yabuki defeated him.

Teraji avenged his upset loss to Masamichi Yabuki with a third-round knockout in their rematch. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

Since then, Teraji has upped his game to a new level by demolishing Hiroto Kyoguchi to add The Ring and WBA titles before notably stopping former two-weight world champion Hekkie Budler in nine rounds.

Going forward it will be interesting to see what Teraji does next. When I spoke to him before this fight, he suggested he’d like to further unify or step up to flyweight.

Teraji had been due to face WBO 108-pound counterpart Jonathan Gonzalez last April only for the Puerto Rican to pull out at late notice due to mycoplasma. Gonzalez hasn’t fought since and will be 16-months inactive by the time he faces compatriot Rene Santiago on March 2. Hopefully, with a victory he could be in line to face Teraji.

The other belt at 108 pounds is held by Adrian Curiel, who stunned Sivenathi Nontshinga with one of the Knockout of the Year candidates last November. The two will meet in a rematch in Oaxaca, Mexico in mid-February. The South African has won in Mexico previously when he edged home against Elwin Soto, but it will be tough to beat Curiel, who will be buoyed with confidence and have home court advantage this time.

The flyweight division has a clear No. 1 after Jesse Rodriguez stopped Sunny Edwards last month. However, it appears Bam will be heading back to junior bantamweight where Eddie Hearn has suggested he may face Ring and WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada. If that happens, Rodriguez’s IBF and WBO flyweight titles will become vacant.

At 32, Teraji is getting up there in years for a junior flyweight. This kind of battle will take its toll on a fighter, there are only so many wars you have in you. It will be interesting to see if Teraji can secure those fights to try to become undisputed at junior flyweight or head to flyweight in an attempt to become a two-weight world champion.

The pound-for-pound debate will continue. Teraji has a body of work and outstanding performance against Hiroto Kyoguchi that deserves that recognition but so do another dozen fighters and that simply mathematically doesn’t fit into a top 10. Teraji will have to keep knocking for the time being.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on
Twitter@AnsonWainwright

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