IAN Abne makes his Japan debut on Aug. 16, 2025, and takes on Rento Miyazawa for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Youth minimumweight belt at the Tsuyuhashi Sports Center in Nagoya.
Abne is closing in on a world title shot, and a win over Miyazawa should keep him on track with his world title hopes.
Abne is ranked No. 4 by the International Boxing Federation, in which the current titleholder is Pedro Taduran. Christian Balunan is the only boxer rated higher than him at No. 3 with the top two spots currently vacant.
He’s also rated No. 15 by the World Boxing Organization and No. 20 by the WBC.
The 25-year-old Abne hasn’t fought for eight months and is coming off a dominant unanimous decision win over Jin Ping Yang in Talisay City in his last fight last December.
Miyazawa is a tough Japanese fighter who’s coming up the ranks. He unfortunately lost to Takaro Kitano by majority decision in a Japanese Boxing Commission Youth minimumweight title bout in September last year.
The 22-year-old Miyazawa faces his tougest assignment to date in Abne.
Abne is 12-0-1 with four knockouts, while Miyazawa is 7-3-1 with two knockouts.
Pinoy journeyman Diomel Diocos (18-9-3, 4 KOs) is also seeing action in the same card against Kento Hatanaka (16-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder. / EKA