Over the weekend news broke that former WBO Super Featherweight champion Masayuki Ito (26-3-1, 14) [伊藤 雅雪] would be returning to the ring in July to face Valentine Hosokawa (25-8-3, 12) [細川繁], in what should be a genuinely thrilling match up.
The bout wasn't officially announced, though that is expected to come in the near future, though it was essentially confirmed by Hosokawa on his own YouTube channel, who revealed the bout would be taking place on July 3rd.
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For Ito this will be his first bout since suffering an upset loss at the end of 2020, against Hironori Mishiro (10-0-1, 3) [三代大訓], and he desperately needs a win of value after a poor couple of years that have seen him lose the WBO title to Jamel Herring and suffer the aforementioned loss to Mishiro. Those losses sandwich a low key win against Ruben Manakane, from September 2019, and we need to go back to 2018 to find his last win of note. Aged 30 Ito cetainly still has plenty of time left in his career, but another loss would see him in a seriously deep hole.
As for Hosokawa this will be his first bout since losing to JBC, OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Lightweight champion Shuichiro Yoshino (13-0, 10) [吉野 修一郎] last September. Aged 40 time is quickly ticking down on Hosokawa's career, but he's aged like a fine wine and has had his best performances in his mid to late 30's, and he could well have another of those impressive performances here.
The bout is expected to have an official announcement in the coming weeks, with a venue and under-card announced, but given Hosokawa's statements on YouTube it seems clear we can mark the date on the calendar and get very excited about this potential thriller of a bout.
For Ito this will be his first bout since suffering an upset loss at the end of 2020, against Hironori Mishiro (10-0-1, 3) [三代大訓], and he desperately needs a win of value after a poor couple of years that have seen him lose the WBO title to Jamel Herring and suffer the aforementioned loss to Mishiro. Those losses sandwich a low key win against Ruben Manakane, from September 2019, and we need to go back to 2018 to find his last win of note. Aged 30 Ito cetainly still has plenty of time left in his career, but another loss would see him in a seriously deep hole.
As for Hosokawa this will be his first bout since losing to JBC, OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Lightweight champion Shuichiro Yoshino (13-0, 10) [吉野 修一郎] last September. Aged 40 time is quickly ticking down on Hosokawa's career, but he's aged like a fine wine and has had his best performances in his mid to late 30's, and he could well have another of those impressive performances here.
The bout is expected to have an official announcement in the coming weeks, with a venue and under-card announced, but given Hosokawa's statements on YouTube it seems clear we can mark the date on the calendar and get very excited about this potential thriller of a bout.
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