Hiroki Hanabusa to make European debut in September
Earlier this week Swiss website https://www.blick.ch/ reported that Swiss hopeful Angelo Pena (9-0, 6), a Spanish born fighter based in Berne with Dominican heritage, was set to fight for the WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title. By it’s self that’s not a story of interest to us, but what did pique our interest is the fact Pena’s opponent would be Japan’s Hiroki Hanabusa (13-2-5, 5) [英洸貴], in what is a very peculiar pick, and give Hanabusa his European debut.
The unbeaten Pena, who won the IBO Continental title 2 fights back, is a really promising fighter dubbed “The One”, he is seens by some as Switzerland’s big hope, and and after a few years of finding his footing in the professional ranks, has started to step up in class, scoring a notable win over Sofiane Takoucht for the aforementioned IBO Continental title. A lot of his opponents so far have either been limited, or coming to the end of their career, as Takoucht was, but in just 9 fights he has started to climb towards, if not into, the world rankings at 130lbs, a division that in fairness isn’t too hot right now. If he can add the WBO Inter-Continental title to his collection he will find himself moving to within touching distance of a WBO world title fight, and will know this is a huge opportunity for his career.
As for Hanabusa, he has a very interesting looking record, with 5 draws in 20 bouts, but is much better than those numbers suggest. The 25 year old from Ishikawa debuted in 2017 and went unbeaten in his first 11, going 8-0-3, before running into the brilliant Toshiki Shimomachi, who was simply too good and stopped him in 5 rounds. In his very next fight he was beaten by Katsuya Fukui, but has since gone 5-0-2 with notable domestic wins over Kyonosuke Kameda and Kai Watanabe, showing his potential. Sadly though coming into this bout, it needs to be noted that Hanabusa is only a Super Bantamweight-come Featherweight, rather than a fully fledged Super Featherweight like Pena.
The bout, set for September 14th, will be the biggest fight involving a Swiss fighter in Berne since 1997, and the winner will certainly find themselves in the top 15 of the WBO.
The Blick Article can be read here.
The unbeaten Pena, who won the IBO Continental title 2 fights back, is a really promising fighter dubbed “The One”, he is seens by some as Switzerland’s big hope, and and after a few years of finding his footing in the professional ranks, has started to step up in class, scoring a notable win over Sofiane Takoucht for the aforementioned IBO Continental title. A lot of his opponents so far have either been limited, or coming to the end of their career, as Takoucht was, but in just 9 fights he has started to climb towards, if not into, the world rankings at 130lbs, a division that in fairness isn’t too hot right now. If he can add the WBO Inter-Continental title to his collection he will find himself moving to within touching distance of a WBO world title fight, and will know this is a huge opportunity for his career.
As for Hanabusa, he has a very interesting looking record, with 5 draws in 20 bouts, but is much better than those numbers suggest. The 25 year old from Ishikawa debuted in 2017 and went unbeaten in his first 11, going 8-0-3, before running into the brilliant Toshiki Shimomachi, who was simply too good and stopped him in 5 rounds. In his very next fight he was beaten by Katsuya Fukui, but has since gone 5-0-2 with notable domestic wins over Kyonosuke Kameda and Kai Watanabe, showing his potential. Sadly though coming into this bout, it needs to be noted that Hanabusa is only a Super Bantamweight-come Featherweight, rather than a fully fledged Super Featherweight like Pena.
The bout, set for September 14th, will be the biggest fight involving a Swiss fighter in Berne since 1997, and the winner will certainly find themselves in the top 15 of the WBO.
The Blick Article can be read here.