On a night where Murodjon Akhmadaliev secured his place in line against Naoya Inoue, Christian Medina also ensured that his next fight would be for a major title.
In fact, it could come on that same show as the abovementioned championship affair.
BoxingScene has learned that Mexico’s Medina and Japan’s Yoshiki Takei are already in advance talks for a WBO-mandated bantamweight title fight. The sanctioning confirmed after Takei’s latest win that his next fight would come against its top rated contender.
Medina, 25-4 (18 KOs) preserved that slot with a second round knockout of Daniel Ramirez on May 30 in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. The same card saw Akhmadaliev. 13-1 (10 KOs) halt Luis Castillo in the eighth round of their non-title fight.
Akhmadaliev holds the interim WBA 122lbs belt and is now set for a title consolidation clash with Inoue, the division’s undisputed champion. Their bout is set to take place on September 14 at a location to be determined in Japan.
It is rumored – though not yet substantiated - that Takei-Medina could land on that very card.
Takei, 11-0 (9 KOs) is represented by Ohashi Promotions, Inoue’s career long promoter. He made his second successful WBO title defense just two days prior to Medina’s latest win. It came in similarly dominant fashion, when he iced unbeaten challenger Yuttapong Tongdoe in the first round of their May 28 DAZN headliner from his hometown in Yokohama, Japan.
The win was Takei’s first knockout in a title fight. He stopped each of his first eight opponents before he was extended the distance in a 12-round, unanimous decision win over Australia’s Jason Moloney to lift the title last May 6 at the Tokyo Dome.
Takei then went twelve bruising rounds with countryman Daigo Higa, whom he outpointed last September 3 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
Both fights took place in Inoue undercards, the latter his fifth in a row in that role. Takei was due to face Tongdoe in supporting capacity to Inoue’s January 24 knockout win over Ye Joon Kim, but an injury forced him off the show.
With any luck, he will be reunited with his promotional stablemate.
Medina has knocked out each of his last four opponents to work his way to title contention. The 25-year old has won 15 of his past 16 contests. His lone defeat during that stretch came in an August 2023 unanimous decision to Ryosuke Nishida, who is now the IBF bantamweight titlist set to face WBC claimant and pound-for-poun entrant Junto Nakatani this weekend in Tokyo.
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on and .