Keita Kurihara VS Kai Chiba Thursday in Japan

The next boxing show in Japan will be this Thursday, September 22 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo: a regional bantamweight championship between two Japanese under the promotion of Ichiriki Boxing. Tokyo Gym.

World ranked WBC #11 Keita Kurihara (16-6-1, 14 KO’s) of 29 years of age from the Ichiriki Boxing Gym defends his regional crown and world ranking against the Japanese ranked bantamweight #7 Kai Chiba (14-3, 8KO’s) also 29 years old from the Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym.

For the regional belt-holder Keita Kurihara, it will be the 1st defense of the title that he won in October of last year by defeating Japanese compatriot Kazuki Nakajima via 3rd round TKO. Kurihara has been a pro boxer since 2011.

In his eighteenth professional fight in December 2018, Tokyo’s Kurihara held a championship fight in Osaka as a visitor from Tokyo and managed to be crowned regional bantamweight champ by defeating local Osakan Yuki Strong Kobayashi via unanimous decision.

In his first stint as the regional bantam king, Kurihara made a title defense against Pinoy former world title challenger Warlito Parenas,

The Nippon warrior viciously stopped the Filipino in less than 3 minutes of action 3 years ago.

Then, in January of 2021 at the famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Keita Kurihara attempted to make his second defense of the regional bantamweight crown, but he blundered when he was defeated by technical decision in the 9th round by former WBC bantamweight interim champ Takuma Inoue.

Then, In October of 2021, Kurihara made his return to the ring fighting again at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, where he scored a 3rd-round TKO victory over Japanese compatriot Kazuki Nakajima, from whom he snatched a regional bantamweight title.

Kurihara’s most recent fight took place once again at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall 4 months ago when he technically drew in the 4th round with former IBF super bantamweight world champion Yukinori Oguni of Japan.

One of Kurihara’s most notable victories in his pro boxing career came via a convincing 2nd round KO against then IBF #4 world ranked Sukpraserd Ponpitak of Thailand.

The fight this Thursday promises to ignite fireworks here in Japan.