Professional boxing is tentatively scheduled to resume in Japan in May.
Previously, the Japan Boxing Commission and the Japan Professional Boxing Association, which is the union of some 270 licensed boxing club owners in the country, shut boxing down until at least April 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Then the deadline was extended until April 30, causing at least a dozen Japanese boxing cards to be called off.
But the JBC and JPBA have announced that boxing will resume on May 2 with a card headlined by a Japanese middleweight title bout between Kazuto Takesako (12-0, 11 KOs) and Riku Kunimoto (4-0, 2 KOs) at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.
The temperature of spectators will be required upon entrance to any event and they must also wear protective masks. Also, there needs to be space between spectators, so there would be empty seats or rows to in order for them to keep distance and no standing room only tickets will be allowed to be sold.
The JBC and JPBA plan to reconsider its policy if there are any coronavirus issues related to any of the upcoming events.
Among the other events are also part of the tentative May schedule: a May 9 card headlined by junior flyweight world titlist Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9 KOs), of Japan, defending his title for the third time when he squares off against Indonesia’s Andika D’Golden Boy (17-0, 8 KOs) in Sakai and a May 16 card headlined by Japanese junior bantamweight titlist Kenta Nakagawa (18-3-1, 12 KOs) defending against Yuta Matsuo (15-4-2, 8 KOs) in Tokyo.