Daniel Roman from Los Angeles, California, makes the first defence of his WBA junior-featherweight belt when he faces Ryo Matsumoto of Japan at the Korakuen Hall, in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Roman (23-2-1; 9), who fights out of Los Angeles, won the belt on 3 September 2017 when he stopped Shun Kubo in the ninth round at Kyoto, Japan.
Kubo (11-1; 9) was relatively inexperienced even though he had won the WBA belt against Nehomar Cermeno with a tenth-round stoppage in April last year.
Matsumoto, 23, who has a record of 21-1; 19, made his pro debut in December 2011, with his only loss coming against Uriel Lopez in May 2016, who stopped him in the fifth round.
However, in a return fight with Lopez seven months later he won on a sixth-round technical knockout.
The much bigger and hard-hitting Matsumoto, who is ranked at number 11 by the WBA, could take the champion all the way.
The other main organisation champions are IBF, Ryousuke Iwasa, WBO, Jessie Magdaleno, and WBC, Rey Vargas.
