Japan to host Heavyweight tournament in 2025!

Earlier today there was an interesting press conference from Hideyuki Ohashi, who wasn’t announcing yet another former amateur standout turning professional, and Yukio Sebata, from DANGAN, announcing a new tournament that will take place in 2025.The tournament will be unlike any other recent tournament in Japan, and in fact it seems somewhat familiar to a tournaments that was held decade in some ways. The tournament is the "Asia Heavyweight Challenge Cup", which is a 16 man knockout tournament to claim a sizable winning prize, and the ability to claim bonuses along the way for scoring knockouts.

The tournament will feature heavyweights from not just Japan but from across Asia (Korea, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Indonesia, India and Philippines), with the only real rule being that a fighter can only be a C class fighter, so essentially a novice boxer without extensive amateur or professional experience. Fighters who are from other combat sports are encouraged to participate, with Sebata essentially inviting non-boxers to get a boxing license to take part in the competition.

So far there have been a few fighters who have enquired about the tournament, though with the tournament not starting for over a year the promoters have given plenty of time for other interested parties to get involved. They have also sweetened the deal with a top prize of 10000000 Japanese Yen (about £52,800 or $67,700), with bonuses for KO’s in the quarter final, semi final and final.

Interestingly the door is open for additional fighters, if there are more than 16 fighters wanting to compete, with an extra round of qualifying bouts potentially in February or March,. Before the main tournament begins in May.

Sebata seems to see the tournament as the start of something bigger, and not just a one off, with plans to hold annual tournaments, and look at fighters in the Cruiserweight, Light Heavyweight and Super Middleweight divisions, and even potentially have some form of title up for grabs for the winners, to keep the tournaments relevant year after year.