World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue insists he is the superior fighter in a head-to-head comparison with Filipino challenger Jerwin Ancajas.
The two are squaring off at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, an 11,000-seater arena in Tokyo, on 15 November.
Inoue will be making the first defense of the WBA 118-lb throne he had won last April.
“I am definitely better than him in speed, technique and stamina,” Inoue, 27, said during the formal announcement of his duel with Ancajas.
Armed with an 18-1-0 win-loss-draw record with four knockouts, Inoue is slightly favored to repulse the challenge of Ancajas, who had reigned as International Boxing Federation super-flyweight king from 2016 until 2022.
Parading a 34-3-2 mark with 23 knockouts, Ancajas, 31, has been training diligently in Las Vegas and will set foot in Japan in early-November to get used to the local conditions.
“I feel excited,” added Inoue, whose brother Naoya, nicknamed “Monster,” is regarded a pound-for-pound star.
Ancajas will attempt to put an end to the string of losses by Filipino boxers during world title fights the past several months.
Among those who were unsuccessful since May include Melvin Jerusalem, Jade Bornea, Regie Suganob and Garren Diagan.
Only Marlon Tapales won a major bout this year as he became a unified world super-bantamweight champion last April when he carved out a split decision victory over Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan in San Antonio, Texas.
Tapales now holds the WBA and IBF 122-lb straps and is gearing up towards a unification battle with Naoya Inoue, holder of the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization belts.
