Mauricio Sulaiman, President of the World Boxing Council, has arrived in Tokyo. Sulaiman, one of the most powerful figures in boxing, is there to attend a key fight this weekend.
Tokyo will host the WBC bantamweight title eliminator between Tenshin Nasukawa and Juan Francisco Estrada on April 11. The event will be broadcast this weekend on Amazon Prime Video as part of a “Japan vs. Mexico” card. It will also be on DAZN.
In London, Tyson Fury (34-2-1 with 24 KOs) returns to action at Tottenham Stadium making this a major weekend for boxing.
Mauricio Sulaiman posted an impressive haul of WBC swag on his social media accounts as he arrived in Japan for the Tokyo card this weekend, bringing with him World Boxing Council hats, pins, miniature WBC world champion belts (some small enough to fit on one’s wrist). and plenty of other memorabilia, which would be a collector’s dream.
So happy to be back in Japan for this incredible #Japan vs #Mexico multi fight extravaganza presented by Teiken promotions live on @PrimeVideo_JP for USA and Europe @DAZNBoxing and @ESPNKnockOut for LatinAmerica and @BoxAzteca7 in Mexico @WBCBoxing pic.twitter.com/Kzp3GD2mWp
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) April 8, 2026
This card from Japan is the “fight before the fight.” In May, all the eyes of the boxing world will once again turn to Tokyo for the massive card between Junto Nakatani (27–0, 20 KOs) and Naoya Inoue (26–0, 23 KOs).
Inoue is widely considered one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the entire sport, if not the best in the world at the moment, and is in the discussion as the greatest Japanese fighter of all time. The Nakatani fight is a quest for pound-for-pound dominance in an era-defining Japanese superfight that, rarely for an all-Japanese fight, has the world’s attention.
Also on the card, junior bantamweight Tomoya Tsuboi (3-0, 2 KOs) is taking on Mexican flyweight Pedro Guevara (43-5-2, 22 KOs). Guevara is a former WBC world champion at 108 pounds, but was stopped by Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in 2004 in just three rounds.
A Bam Rodriguez vs Inoue super fight
Naoya Inoue | IMAGO / AFLOSPORT
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs) versus Naoya Inoue is another potential superfight we may see in boxing, which would be a great matchup between Inoue’s smooth, precise offense and Rodriguez’s relentless and aggressive body punching.
Also on the card this weekend, Angel Ayala (18-1, 8 KOs) of Mexico will face Japan’s Kyosuke Takami (10-1, 8 KOs). It’s an unusual crossroads fight as Ayala lost the IBF flyweight title last year and Takami recently lost the WBA junior flyweight title. Both men are ranked within the top ten of the flyweight division by The Ring Magazine.