Tenshin Nasukawa Responds to Love Affair Rumors Ahead of World Debut
“Thud! Thud!”
The heavy, low sound of a collision, as if a motorcycle had crashed, echoed throughout the gym. The one throwing the lead-like punches, under the guidance of Teiken Boxing Gym’s Chairman Akihiko Honda, who has mentored many great fighters, was the undefeated prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa (26).
After winning a fierce battle against former world champion Jason Moloney (34) in February this year, Nasukawa rose to become the WBC bantamweight No. 1. With his long-awaited world title fight on the horizon, he is in the midst of intense training for his world pre-fight on June 8. On this day, he entered the gym in the afternoon, carefully stretching and lightly sweating through shadowboxing. Later, he practiced right hooks with Chairman Honda, as mentioned at the beginning.
“Minimize the motion before the punch.”
“Focus on your footwork.”
Honda’s detailed instructions flew. The coach holding the mitts was a giant, at least 190cm tall, but every time Nasukawa landed a punch, the coach’s body nearly recoiled. Among the four current bantamweight champions, three are southpaws, and the remaining one is ambidextrous. As a result, Nasukawa is working on learning a secret strategy for dealing with left-handers.
Finally, he sparred for four rounds of three minutes each with a senior left-handed boxer from the same gym.
“Thank you very much!”
Nasukawa called out with a smile, looking satisfied, as if he had felt the results. Afterward, he didn’t immediately head home but spent nearly 30 minutes talking with his coach and senior, eagerly asking for feedback on his new weapon, the right hook. With less than a month and a half to go until his next fight, it seems his preparations are going smoothly.
“I want to say something on Friday!”
After about two hours of intense training, the journalist who was covering the session for the magazine was about to leave.
“Wait a minute. I have something to say on Friday,” Nasukawa called out to the journalist.
He was then escorted to a nearby cafe by his stern-looking manager. Once seated, Nasukawa immediately spoke up with an unexpected remark.
“I’ve been wanting to say this for the last six months. If you’re going to report on my love life, why didn’t you take better pictures of it?”
—Huh?
“And also, instead of just regular things like running, why not take pictures of something more interesting, like me doing muscle training while doing a handstand?”
The magazine had reported on Nasukawa’s training date with a younger, blonde dancer in the October 4th issue. In that article, there was a photo of her watching Nasukawa run while riding a bike, but it seemed Nasukawa wasn’t particularly happy with that particular shot.
“I’m not angry at all about being photographed. It’s true that we’re dating, right? When you’re in the public eye, you have to be prepared for it. Just like this close-up interview, I hope we can maintain a long relationship both personally and professionally.”
In the April 25th release of FRIDAY (May 9th, 16th, and 23rd combined issue), as well as in the paid version FRIDAY GOLD, more details about his relationship and his thoughts on the upcoming world pre-fight, along with exclusive training photos, were shared.
For more details and multiple photos, click here.
From the May 9, 16, and 23, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”
PHOTO： Takahiro Kagawa
