Ryosuke Nishida
Former IBF Bantamweight Champion
Bio
Right then, Ryosuke Nishida is exactly the kind of fighter whose record tells you almost nothing useful. Eleven wins, one defeat, two knockouts — and a former IBF bantamweight world championship to his name. If you only read the numbers you would never guess how awkward he is to share a ring with.
The Japanese southpaw-troubling technician is tall and rangy for the weight and fights at a distance entirely of his own choosing. He is not going to blow anybody away; two stoppages in twelve fights is not an accident. What he does instead is make every exchange happen on his terms, land the cleaner shot and get out before the reply arrives. Against a pressure fighter who does not cut the ring properly, that is worth a lot of rounds.
He won the IBF bantamweight title and has since moved up to super bantamweight in search of the biggest night available. A win over Vazquez in February earned him this position, and the IBF duly ordered him in with Sam Goodman for the interim belt at 122 lbs.
Make no mistake, this is a genuine crossroads fight for him. Beat Goodman in front of a home crowd in Tokyo and he is the mandatory challenger for Naoya Inoue, the best fighter on the planet, with everything that comes with it. Lose and he is a former champion with a thin record trying to find his way back. He will not be short of motivation.