Headlining at Paloma Mizuho Arena in Nagoya on Sunday. Ten rounds scheduled at bantamweight. Each is a few bouts removed from their last defeat. Tanaka failed a WBO super flyweight world title bid against Kazuto Ioka, stopped in 8 rounds by his countryman in late 2020. A few months later the Colombian - who, despite having faced many past or future titlists, has never contended himself - dropped a UD to Donnie Nietes in a ten-rounder for the WBO international title in that same division. Tanaka will be a heavy betting favorite but also has a lot more to lose here, being 7 years the visitor's junior and with a 4" height advantage with the pressure of a lot more hype on his shoulders.
IMPORTANT! This content is protected Do not set your alarm for the usual 5 or 6am on Sunday morning thinking you will be able to safely catch this. For some reason it's on very early - doors at 11:30am and first bell at noon local time, and "gong" for the main event at 2pm local time in Nagoya - which is 1am for those of us on NYC time. So plan on staying up even later on Saturday night after Lomachenko vs. Haney, rather than hitting the hay after ESPN goes off the air to get up early.
Apparently this is an internet PPV, and costs ¥1,000. (if your conversion's a little rusty, a thousand yen equals about $7.22 in USD) https://locipo.jp/premium/live/720b...SoJPMAtnAY3B9bZ3MjqnLP7eaeV9GSfYNtQEqgfTvaeUM Hmm. I'm perfectly willing to stay up until 2am for what is essentially a mismatch between contenders (although the WBC has made it an eliminator, ho-hum) for free, but...
