When to watch: Wednesday, July 30 at 5:50 a.m. ET (10:50 a.m. BST)

Why to watch: This show has three title fights, with the main event spotlighting Kenshiro Teraji, 25-1 (16 KOs), the WBA and WBC flyweight titleholder. While Teraji’s 33 years of age may make the last part of his “The Amazing Boy” nickname questionable, his resume is otherwise befitting of “The Amazing.”

Teraji, who hails from outside of the city of Kyoto, Japan, has unified world titles in two weight classes. This will be his 18th straight title fight. Most of his career has been title fights; he’s 16-1 in those bouts and avenged the sole defeat. And he has nine wins over opponents who held world titles, previously owned world titles, or went on to win them. That number climbs to 11 if you include opponents who held secondary belts.

At junior flyweight, in his 10th pro bout, Teraji won the WBC title in 2017 with a majority decision over Ganigan Lopez. He made eight straight successful defenses, including a majority decision over former titleholder Pedro Guevara, a second-round knockout of Lopez in their rematch and a seventh-round stoppage of former titleholder Milan Melindo.

Teraji’s title run came to a surprising halt in September 2021, when he suffered a 10th-round TKO loss to Masamichi Yabuki. They had an immediate rematch in March 2022, and Teraji regained his title via third-round knockout.

Then, in his next outing, Teraji added the WBA title and Ring championship with a seventh-round TKO of former titleholder Hiroto Kyoguchi in November 2022. He wrapped his run at 108lbs with victories over Anthony Olascuaga (who has since gone on to win a flyweight title), former Ring champion Hekkie Budler and Carlos Canizales.

Last October, Teraji moved up to 112lbs and nabbed the vacant WBC title with an 11th-round technical knockout over former titleholder Cristofer Rosales. This past March, Teraji was in an absolute war in a unification bout with WBA titleholder Seigo Yuri Akui. Down on two scorecards entering the final round, Teraji stopped Akui with about 90 seconds to go.

That was just four and a half months ago. How much did the battle with Akui take out of Teraji? Has he had enough time to recover? And if Teraji beats Ricardo Sandoval, what will come next? 

Teraji has already beaten the other flyweight titleholders: Yabuki (IBF) and Olascuaga (WBO). A rematch with Akui seems appropriate at some point in the near future. Yankiel Rivera is the No. 1 contender for the WBA belt. Galal Yafai, who was battered by Francisco Rodriguez Jnr in June, has regained his interim WBC belt after Rodriguez tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug.

Or will Teraji head to junior bantamweight and take aim at the winner of November’s three-belt unification bout between Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Fernando Martinez?

Sandoval, 26-2 (18 KOs), is a 26-year-old from Rialto, California, who is part of the Golden Boy Promotions roster. He is ranked No. 2 by the WBC and No. 3 by the WBA. Sandoval will be fighting for a world title for the first time after earning a shot four years ago and then subsequently losing the ability to cash in on that privilege.

In June 2021, Sandoval knocked out the 18-1 Jay Harris in eight rounds in an IBF eliminator. While awaiting his opportunity against titleholder Sunny Edwards, Sandoval took on perpetual bridesmaid Carlos Buitrago and stopped him in seven. But in July 2022, Sandoval entered another elimination bout, this one for the WBA title, and was dropped en route to losing a narrow majority decision to David Jimenez. Jimenez went on to lose a title fight at 112lbs but now holds an interim belt at 115lbs. 

For Sandoval, meanwhile, that was his second professional defeat – the first came early in his career in his fifth pro bout – and he has won six straight since. The most notable of those victories was a decision in 2023 over the 22-1 Rocco Santomauro (who had lost before to Diego De La Hoya and afterward to Galal Yafai) and a 10th-round TKO in 2024 of former junior flyweight titleholder Angel Acosta. In Sandoval’s last appearance, he widely outpointed the 10-1 Saleto Henderson in February. 

The undercard at Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama, Japan, includes two more title fights: Antonio Vargas vs. Daigo Higa and Erick Rosa vs. Kyosuke Takami.

Vargas, 19-1 (11 KOs), is making his first defense of the WBA bantamweight title. He won the interim belt in December with a 10th-round TKO of the 22-0 Winston Guerrero, then was upgraded when the previous primary titleholder, Seiya Tsutsumi, was reclassified as the “champion in recess” due to an injury. Higa, 21-3-2 (19 KOs), is a former flyweight titleholder who is coming off a draw with Tsutsumi in February and a narrow loss to WBO bantamweight titleholder Yoshiki Takei last September.

Rosa, 8-0 (2 KOs), will be defending his WBA junior flyweight title for the first time after capturing the vacant belt in December with a unanimous decision over the 14-1-2 Neider Valdez Aguilar. Takami is 9-0 (7 KOs) and is coming off a sixth-round TKO in April of the 11-1 Toshiki Kawamitsu.

More Fights to Watch

Friday, August 1: Panya Pradabsri vs. Carlos Canizales (ESPN Deportes)

The broadcast begins at 11 p.m. ET (4 a.m. BST).

Friday’s rematch between junior-flyweight titleholder Panya Pradabsri and Carlos Canizales has landed a broadcast partner in the United States, airing August 1 on ESPN Deportes starting at 11 p.m. Eastern Time (4 a.m. BST).

Pradabsri, 44-2 (27 KOs), won the vacant WBC belt in highly controversial fashion in December, when taking a majority decision by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114. The WBC mandated an immediate rematch.

While Pradabsri-Canizales took place in Pradabsri’s hometown of Bangkok, Thailand, the sequel is taking place in Canizales’ territory, at El Poliedro de Caracas in Venezuela’s capital city.

Pradabsri, 34 years old and also known as Petchmanee CP Freshmart, unseated long-time strawweight titleholder Wanheng Menayothin in November 2020, ending Menayothin’s unbeaten streak at 54 wins and taking his WBC belt in the process. Pradabsri made four successful defenses, including a rematch win over Menayothin, before losing a decision to Yudai Shigeoka in October 2023.

This will be the fourth shot at a primary world title for the 32-year-old Canizales, 27-3-1 (19 KOs). He drew with the WBA titleholder Ryoichi Taguchi in 2016, won the sanctioning body’s secondary belt in 2018, and lost it in 2021. Canizales lost a majority decision to then-108lbs champion Kenshiro Teraji at the start of 2024 and came up short in the eyes of the judges against Pradabsri at the end of 2024.

Saturday, August 2: Oscar Duarte vs. Kenneth Sims Jnr (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. ET (1 a.m. BST).

Duarte-Sims is a battle of two junior welterweights who have bounced back from losses and are in the process of climbing their way back up the rankings. The winner will be closer to a title shot in this packed weight class.

Duarte, 29-2-1 (23 KOs), is ranked fifth by the WBA at 140lbs. The 29-year-old from Mexico was on the receiving end of an eighth-round knockout against Ryan Garcia in December 2023. Since then, Duarte stopped faded former junior lightweight titleholder Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jnr, outpointed ​​Batyr Akhmedov and took out Miguel Madueno in seven rounds in February. Madueno had previously gone the distance with Keyshawn Davis.

Sims, 22-2-1 (8 KOs), is slotted just ahead of Duarte, ranked fourth by the WBA (and seventh by the IBF). The 31-year-old is from Chicago, which means he’ll be main-eventing at home in the Credit Union 1 Arena.

Sims lost a majority decision in 2017 to the 14-1-1 Rolando Chinea, fought to a draw in 2018 with Montana Love and then lost a unanimous decision later that same year to the 14-2-1 Samuel Teah. Nine consecutive victories have followed, with Sims fighting both at and around junior welterweight and welterweight. Among those wins: a majority decision over Akhmedov in 2023 (two fights before Duarte took him on) and a unanimous decision over 21-7 welterweight Kendo Castaneda on the same card as Duarte-Madueno.

In the co-feature, former junior welterweight titleholder Regis Prograis will face the aforementioned JoJo Diaz.

Prograis, 29-3 (24 KOs), is coming off back-to-back defeats, shut out by Devin Haney in December 2023 and outpointed by Jack Catterall last October. Diaz, 34-7-1 (15 KOs), has lost six of his past eight matches, but broke his most recent three-bout losing streak with a points win in June over the 6-4-1 Jorge Luis Valencia Diaz.

Also on this broadcast are three fights featuring prospects, including cruiserweight Tristan Kalkreuth, 15-1 (10 KOs) against Kareem Hackett, 12-1 (6 KOs); heavyweight Joshua Edwards, 3-0 (3 KOs), who competed in the 2024 Olympics, against Cayman Audie, 4-1 (2 KOs); and light heavyweight Yair Gallardo, 9-0 (8 KOs), against Quinton Rankin, 21-9-2 (16 KOs).

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.