Tanaka title defense nixed as foe misses weight

Kosei Tanaka’s WBO junior bantamweight title defense was scrapped Friday after Jonathan Rodriguez was 6.25 pounds overweight.

Japan’s Tanaka weighed 114.8 pounds for Saturday’s scheduled bout in Tokyo while Mexico’s Rodriguez was 121.25.

“Tomorrow I will be appearing in the ring with a microphone instead of gloves,” Tanaka wrote in Japanese on X. “We apologize for the unfortunate news.”

Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) is ESPN’s No. 5 boxer at 115 pounds while Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 KOs) is unranked. The 29-year-old Tanaka has won five consecutive bouts since his lone defeat, an eighth-round TKO vs. Kazuto Ioka in a December 2020 title fight.

Tanaka’s first title defense was set for the ESPN+ undercard of the Junto Nakatani-Vincent Astrolabio bantamweight title fight. Both Nakatani and Astrolabio weighed in under the 118-pound limit.

Riku Kano and Anthony Olascuga also made weight for their 112-pound title bout.