Ohashi Boxing Gym, where undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya "Monster" Inoue trains, said Thursday it has signed 18-year-old Yuta Sakai to a professional contract.
"He is the top prospect," Hideyuki Ohashi, the gym's head, said of Sakai, who won six high school boxing tournaments. "He is already a high-quality boxer."
Ohashi hopes to have the 173-centimeter lefty make his pro debut in June.
Sakai, from Hyogo Prefecture's Nishinomiya Kofu high school, won the bantamweight division at the 2022 youth world championships.
"I'll become a boxer who hits my opponent without getting hit," Sakai said. "I'll just take it step by step and make certain of winning one match at a time."
Sakai has already begun training with Inoue, who also had an illustrious high school career before his rise to fame.
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