Nontshinga camp shifts focus to Japan’s Teraji for unification clash
Jonathan Gonzalez’s habit of pulling out of unification clashes has forced Sivenathi Nontshinga’s management to shift their focus to Japan’s Kenshiro Teraji for a world title consolidation quest.
Nontshinga was scheduled to risk his IBF junior-flyweight title against Gonzalez’s WBO title in June in what would have reduced the number of world title holders in the division to just two.
However, the Puerto Rican suddenly refused to sign the contract and demanded more money, leaving the Nontshinga camp exasperated and looking elsewhere.
Nontshinga’s adviser and trainer, Colin Nathan, said that when Gonzalez delayed signing the contract they had remembered the antics he pulled in his scheduled unification clash against Teraji in April last year.
“He has a history of pulling out of unification clashes, so we were not overly surprised when he came up with stories,” Nathan said.
Gonzalez withdrew from the Teraji unification fight which would have put their WBC, WBA and WBO titles on the line, saying he was ill with pneumonia.
This left the Japanese boxer scraping for a replacement to save the tournament before settling for Anthony Olascuaga, whom he stopped in nine rounds after anxious moments early on.
When it became increasingly obvious that Gonzalez would pull a similar stunt, Nathan immediately reached out to Teraji’s camp and reactivated talks which began before Nontshinga’s upset secondround knockout loss to Adrien Curiel to surrender the IBF title in Monte Carlo in November.
Nontshinga avenged the loss a few months later in February when he regained the title with a 10th-round stoppage victory to revive his world title unification aspirations.
However, the IBF ordered him to fulfil his mandatory title defence obligations against Filipino Christian Araneta, whom Nontshinga previously defeated in a mandatory clash in Gqeberha in April 2021.
But with unification clashes superseding mandatory defences, the East London boxer has been allowed to continue with his quest to chase his dream.
Nathan said he had already held talks with Teraji’s promoter, Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions, regarding the unification clash.
“We spoke only yesterday [Sunday] and the prospects are good,” he said.
Teraji, whose last bout was a harder-than-expected points decision win over Carlos Canizales in January, indicated that he would move up to the flyweight if a unification clash in the junior-flyweight division could not be secured.
Nathan enjoys cordial relations with Japan, where he is licensed as a legitimate manager having dealt with the Teraji camp when he negotiated a title challenge for his other charge, Hekkie Budler.
The talks secured Budler lucrative deals by first agreeing to take a step-aside fee to allow a Teraji-Gonzalez unification clash before his own challenge was finally approved, though he fell short when he suffered a nine-round stoppage loss.
Nathan said a deal with the Japanese had not been reached as yet, though talks were progressing well.