FORMER world title challenger Jonas Sultan returns to the ring on July 12, 2025, facing ex-sparring partner Katsuma Akitsugi in a 10-round bout at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California, USA.
The 33-year-old Sultan is staging a comeback after more than a year of inactivity. He last saw action in Japan on Feb. 24, 2024, where he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Riku Masuda.
Interestingly, Akitsugi was one of Sultan’s key sparring partners at the Wild Card Gym in California during his preparation for his fight against Masuda.
The 27-year-old Akitsugi, a Japanese boxer based in the US, has beaten some promising fighters such as Jesus Ramirez, Gregory Morales, Rasheen Brown and Eros Correa.
Akitsugi is coming off a sixth-round knockout of Filipino former world title contender Aston Palicte last year in the US.
Sultan, a former ALA Boy, rose to prominence after scoring a unanimous decision upset of Filipino star Johnriel Casimero in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight title eliminator in Cebu City in 2017.
The win over Casimero earned Sultan a world title shot against then-IBF super-flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas in an all-Filipino world title contest in 2018, which he lost via lopsided unanimous decision.
In 2022, Sultan had a crack at the interim World Boxing Organization bantamweight strap but fell short against Paul Butler, also by one-sided unanimous decision.
Sultan is currently training at the Wild Card Gym along with hall-of-famer Manny Pacquiao, Mark Magsayo, Ancajas, Carl Jammes Martin and Eumir Marcial.
Sultan is 19-7 with 11 knockouts, while Akitsugi is 12-0 with three knockouts. / EKA