Takeru has his next bout booked. He is set to take on former foe Taiga on September 10th in an exhibition fight which the kickboxer appears to be promoting himself.
The fight will consist of two rounds of just two minutes each, meaning that Takeru and Taiga will share the ring for a maximum of two minutes. The two men have fought twice in the past.
In 2014 Takeru knocked Taiga out with a spinning back elbow. The following year they rematched in the final of the K-1 super bantamweight tournament and the result was the same although this time the fight went the distance.
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Intense speculation
Earlier this week Takeru indicated that his next fight would be on a ONE Championship card. He signed for the promotion in April but has yet to make his debut despite some intense speculation about potential opponents.
It was announced that a fight between Takeru and Rodtang Jitmuangnon would be taking place in Tokyo later this year. But ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong seemed to backtrack and warned fans that this would be a difficult fight to make.
Both Takeru and Taiga fought in Paris recently. The latter scored a late stoppage against Bailey Sugden while the former beat Paul Karpowicz by decision.
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Brief encounter
It is not entirely clear what constitutes an exhibition these days. Japanese fans have seen Floyd Mayweather knock out both Tenshin Nasukawa and Mikuru Asakura in bouts that had exhibition status.
So we won’t know exactly how hard the two kickboxers intend to go until the bell rings. But it is unlikely that either of them will be able to do too much damage in the space of just four minutes.
Taiga also has a bout booked on a Rise card which is scheduled for August 28th. So this would be a very quick turnaround for the K-1 veteran who surely wouldn’t have agreed to a serious fight with Takeru after such a quick turnaround.
Takeru has only fought once since his money spinning matchup with Tenshin last year. His K-1 contract has expired and fans are waiting to find out when he will make his ONE Championshi debut but in the meantime the 32 year old has decided to put on an exhibition bout in his hometown.
