Kenshiro Teraji plans to move up to flyweight and fight for the vacant WBC title, and Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN reports that Teraji officially requested fight against the sanctioning body.
Teraji currently holds the WBC and WBA junior flyweight titles, and generally speaking, sanctioning bodies allow a champion to step up and fight for another if the need arises.
Teraji (23-1, 14 KO) first won the WBC 108-pound belt in 2017 and held it until a disheartening loss to Masamichi Yabuki in 2021, recording five successful defenses. In March, he regained the belt from Yabuki in a direct rematch. 2022, and less than eight months later he crushed Hiroto Kyoguchi to unify the WBA title.
Since then, the 32-year-old Teraji has defended his unified crown three times, most recently on January 1, 2010 on 23 after a hard-fought victory over Carlos Canizales.
Teraji has fought in the junior flyweight division throughout his career, and turned professional 10 years ago in August this year.
The WBC flyweight title until recently belonged to Julio Cesar Martinez, who at the end of May decided to resign and change weight.
Currently, the top five WBC flyweight contenders are Angel Ayala, Francisco Rodriguez Jr, Cristofer Rosales, Sunlit Edwards and Galal Yafai. Ayala could have fought Teraji, but she was also ordered by the IBF to fight Dave Apolinario for the vacant title.