December eighteenth, General Santos City. Headlining a card that also features several Filipinos on the comeback trail (Mark Dave Cereno Apolinario, Alex Santisima Jr., Vince Asuncion Paras and Reymart Grande Gaballo). IBO world minimumweight title at stake, vacant for 2 years. Katsunari "Lightning Kid" Takayama is a legend in Japanese boxing - the first competitor to (at various times) hold all four of the major sanctioning bodies' world championships in the modern era. He is also 41 years old and has fought only four times in more than eight years - and just thrice in nearly four now. He was stopped by WBO light flyweight titlist Elwin Soto in a failed bid to become a 2-division champion in 2021. He then disappeared for 25 months, began a comeback in 2023 with two bouts and has not been inactive again for another 15 months. In the other corner we have a young and diminutive Vietnamese-Victorian sparkplug. Lu is already signed with 360 Promotions at only 23 years old - meaning he wasn't even born yet when Takayama made his pro debut!! - and may just be under the cutoff threshold for dwarfism. There are no hard stats on him anywhere to be found, but he is demonstrably shorter than Thoedkiad "Singhamanasak" Weerachon in the clips of their weigh-in and fight available on Lu's own Instagram page. Weerachon is listed as 5'5" and looks to have at least half a foot on Lu. Takayama vs. Jerome "The Machine" Baloro: This content is protected (his most recent form) Lu vs. Gerttipong Kumsahwat: This content is protected (only full bout upload) Lu vs. Weerachon weigh-in: This content is protected
In its 25 year history, the IBO minimumweight title has been held by six South Africans, one Filipino, and one Nicaraguan. Nkosinathi Joyi's two reigns were, interestingly, separated by more than a decade. I believe (but don't quote me on this) that Takayama would be the first Japanese boxer to hold a WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, and WBO world title over the course of his career. This would be the first title of any kind held by Lu (although he claims on social media to be the state of Victoria's light flyweight champion as of his rematch victory over Kumsahwat in December of 2022. Idk...it was a 6-rounder... sounds pretty Cracker Jack box prize to me )
