Jezreel Corrales and Takashi Uchiyama provided one of boxing's biggest upsets in the first half of 2016, and the two will face off once more for Corrales' WBA (Super) super featherweight championship.
In a recent news conference in Tokyo, Uchiyama announced that the rematch will come on Dec. 31 in Uchiyama's home country of Japan. Terms have been agreed, but a contract had not been signed. Some details, such as the site of the fight, had not been finalized.
After Corrales won the belt, the organization ordered him to fight "regular" super featherweight champion Jason Sosa. Ordinarilly, once an organization orders a title fight, particularly one between its "super" and "regular" champion, other fight opportunities involving the boxers come second to the sanctioning body. The WBA gave both fighters a special permit so that both men can have an optional title defense first.
Sosa will face off against Stephen Smith on Nov. 12 in Monte Carlo. Sosa won his world title earlier in the summer against Javier Fortuna in Beijing, China.
Corrales had not lost a fight since 2009 and is 20-1 as a professional fighter. Uchiyama had run the super featherweight division for several years, winning the WBA world title back in 2010. The loss to Corrales was Uchiyama's first in his professional career.
Uchiyama said in the news conference that he "was careless in the first encounter," referring back to the knockout loss against Corrales. Uchiyama was knocked down three times in the second round and knocked him out later in the round.
