By:  | May 19, 2023 11:50 am

Tenshin Nasukawa has taken to Instagram to show off some of his boxing moves. The 24 year old compares himself to various video game characters.

Tenshin beat Yuki Yonaha by unanimous decision in a six rounder in Tokyo last month. He scored the first knockdown of his career in the second round with a right hand, although his opponent was clearly not hurt.

That didn’t make it into Tenshin’s video game inspired highlight reel. But he does show himself narrowly missing with a left uppercut in a move that is reminiscent of a scene from Street Fighter:

Wild swings

There was some debate about the knockdown as Yonaha only lost his balance very slightly but a glove did appear to glance off the canvass. It might have been a right hand that did the damage on that occasion but Tenshin’s main weapon was the left.

The southpaw landed left hands to the body and head of his opponent throughout the fight. Although he also missed with some wild shots which is something that more experienced opponents might punish him for.

While these wild swings won’t endear Tenshin to the boxing purists he seemed to enjoy poring over the footage. Two of the videos feature the kickboxing veteran missing with left hands that are reminiscent of something out of a video game.

Footwork and head movement

But Tenshin’s footwork and head movement were extremely impressive for a debutant, especially considering he doesn’t have much of a background in amateur boxing. His previous experienced consisted of two exhibition bouts, although one of them was against the legendary Floyd Mayweather.

Yonaha was handpicked to be Tenshin’s opponent so the matchmakers were obviously fairly confident that the former kickboxer would prevail. But with 12 wins on his record, eight of which had come inside the distance, he represented a difficult debut.

Tenshin passed this test with flying colours, two of the judges scored every round for him with one of them giving one to Yonaha. The scorecards read 59-55, 60-53 and 60-53 in his favour.

We don’t know what is next for Tenshin but his next opponent is likely to be even stronger. He might not get away with trying moves that are straight out of a video game in his next fight but it is good to see that he is having fun with his new career.