Teraji reportedly stated he wants this by year's end, and Kyōguchi has responded positively to his overtures in Japanese media. NOTHING OFFICIAL YET - just setting the New Year's Eve date arbitrarily to satisfy the letter of what he said, reinforced by the fact that major boxing events have been staged in the country on the last day of the year for a long time now. This would unify the WBC (fifth defense of Kyōguchi) and WBA (first defense of Teraji since regaining the belt from Masamichi "Yabuki" Satô, ninth overall) light flyweight titles. IMO this is every bit as big and important a fight as Spence vs. Crawford - and on paper, a lot more fun to watch - but of course it won't get but the daintiest "I'm on a diet" cake slice of attention from the mainstream. I made a poll recently asking if the last man standing between all three compatriots - Teraji, Satô, and Kyōguchi - would have a fair claim to being the man at the weight, even without needing to circumnavigate the globe and take on the likes of González or Soto. Apparently some people are unconvinced that a Teraji vs. Yabuki rubber match is even necessary, citing that Ken had Covid-19 shortly before their first bout and chalking up the upset loss to him still being in recovery. I'm not sure how much water that holds - it was a full month between him testing positive and them lacing up. He may have not been 100% yet but it also seemed to me that he underestimated his countryman a tad. Avenging the loss (and no doubt venting all his frustration at Satô having destroyed his dream of reaching Yōkō Gushiken's thirteen championship defense mark) just once goes a ways toward proving he's the better man h2h, but a third go-around just to make absolutely sure and put a punctuation mark on it can't hurt IMO. As for Kyōguchi, not many seem to have faith in him beating Teraji although I'm not sure why. The man from Kyoto may be less defensively open than his daredevil Osakan rival may be at times, but the former IBF straw champ has just as versatile a punch arsenal, with at least as much power and hand speed - and both can box equally well moving forward or in reverse, landing combinations at high or low altitudes. It really is a pick'em.
There was a video a few years back of them having an exhibition match. Sadly it appears to have been taken down. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/621348 Anybody know if that was ever re-upped anywhere?
