Tenshin Nasukawa delivered his best performance to date on a night with plenty of boxing royalty in the house.
The former kickboxing star has fully transformed into a bantamweight contender barely two years into his pro boxing career. Another leap towards title contention was taken by Nasukawa after a ten-round, unanimous decision win over the Dominican Republic's Victor Santillan. Scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91 for Nasukawa in their Amazon Prime-Japan/ESPN+ co-feature Sunday from Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan.
Nasukawa's win on the all-bantamweight lineup came with three divisional titlists on site along with undisputed 122lbs champ Naoya Inoue, 30-0 (27 KOs). His seventh pro fight came on a night when countrymen Junto Nakatani, 30-0 (23 KOs) and Ryosuke Nishida, 10-0 (2 KOs), met in a WBC/IBF bantamweight title unification bout. Also on hand was four-division WBO titleholder Yoshiki Takei, 11-0 (9 KOs), whom Nasukawa has targeted as a future opponent.
The battle of southpaws saw Nasukawa quickly take the lead. He boxed smartly both from the outside and whenever the two were at close quarters, which was often. Santillan tried to test the heart and chin of his wildly popular foe but was often beaten to the punch.
Nasukawa was forced to overcome minor adversity in the fourth. Enough slicing jabs and right hooks by Santillan got through to open up two small cuts just outside Nasukawa's left eyelid.
"What I learned tonight that not everything will always go my way," Nasukawa said through translator Mizuka Koike.
Santillan's good fortune didn't last long as he was clipped by a video game-style left uppercut inside the final minute of the round.
The effective punch became the weapon of choice for Nasukawa through the balance of the fight. Santillan never backed down as he attempted to push the action. Nasukawa was defensively responsible as he remained in the pocket, always in position to counter whenever slipped his opponent's power shots.
A knockout was sought by Nasukawa in the final two rounds, but never to the point where he lost his composure.
Santillan, 14-2 (5 KOs), was hurt by left hands during the stretch but refused to budge. The visiting Dominican manage to land a right hook just ahead of the final minute of the fight. It was buried in a swarm of left hands by Nasukawa, whenever he didn't keep it pinned to his chin to block Santillan's power shots. Santillan wildly flailed his arms in the closing seconds of the fight, only to catch two left hands on the chin just before the bell.
Nasukawa, 8-0 (2 KOs), picked up his second eye-catching win of a productive 2025 campaign. It came a little more than three months after his sound ten-round points win over former WBO titlist Jason Moloney.
The end of that bout saw Nasukawa joined in the ring by Takei, though the early year tease won't necessarily lead to a fight next or even this year. As previously reported by BoxingScene, Takei is due to next face mandatory challenger Christian Medina in a bout targeted for this fall in Japan.
It only gives Nasukawa that much more time to develop into a stronger bantamweight contender.
Sunday's undercard saw Tokyo's Riku Misuda deliver a highlight reel first round knockout over Michell Banquez, 23-6 (15 KOs).
A massive left hand by Misuda, 8-1 (8 KOs), floored the visiting Banquez, a Venezuelan journeyman based in Argentina, for the bout's lone knockdown. Referee Tetsuya Iida began his count before he waved off the contest at 1:27 of the first round.
Misuda has now won five in a row - all in seven or fewer - following an August 2023 points loss to Seiya Tsutsumi, who went on to win the WBA bantamweight title.
The undercard also featured former amateur standout Tomoya Tsuboi, 2-0 (1 KO), claim a regional belt in just his second pro fight. The 2021 World Amateur champion effortlessly outpointed Vietnam's Van Thao Tran over ten rounds. Scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 98-92 for Tsuboi, who turned pro just three months ago and has already begun the sprint towards title contention.
