A 42-0 kickboxing record tends to follow a fighter into every new room he enters. For Tenshin Nasukawa, it followed him from sold-out arenas in Japan into the slower, stricter world of professional boxing, where old habits had to be trimmed and rebuilt.
From shy child in Chiba to teenage standout
Tenshin Nasukawa was born on August 18, 1998, in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He started Kyokushin karate as a small child, reportedly after his father, Hiroyuki Nasukawa, wanted to toughen up a timid son. That early start mattered. Long before he became a television attraction, he was learning balance, timing and how to stay calm under pressure.
His father was more than a supportive parent. Hiroyuki became a central figure in his training and later served as president of Teppen Gym, the family base that shaped much of Nasukawa’s early career. That close link between home life and fight life would remain part of the story all the way into his years as a headliner.
As a youngster, Nasukawa piled up experience quickly. He won the 2009 International Youth Kyokushin Karate Championships and built a strong amateur kickboxing record, often reported as 99-5-3, before turning professional as a teenager. By then, he was already being talked about as one of Japan’s most gifted young strikers.
The kickboxing rise: speed, timing and an unbeaten run
Nasukawa made his professional kickboxing debut in 2012. He was still very young, but the style was already easy to spot. He fought from a southpaw stance, relied on sharp reactions and clean counters, and mixed in techniques that many opponents struggled to read. There were spinning attacks and jumping knees when openings appeared, but his game was not built on chaos. It was built on timing.
He competed across RISE and RIZIN and kept winning. In 2016, he stopped Wanchalong PK Saenchaigym, a result that helped underline that he was no longer just a prospect with flair. In 2017, he knocked out former boxing world champion Amnat Ruenroeng under kickboxing rules, another high-profile moment in a run that kept getting bigger.
Titles came with the wins. Nasukawa held the RISE Bantamweight title at 55 kg and the RISE World Featherweight title at 57.5 kg. He also won the ISKA Oriental Rules Bantamweight title and the ISKA Unified Rules Featherweight title. In tournament competition, he captured the 2017 RIZIN Flyweight Kickboxing Tournament.
The later stretch of his kickboxing career carried a sense of finality. On February 28, 2021, he beat Shiro by unanimous decision. On September 23, 2021, he outpointed Masahiko Suzuki. Then, on April 2, 2022, he defeated Kazane Nagai by majority decision in what became his final RISE appearance.
His last kickboxing bout came on June 19, 2022, in one of the biggest Japanese fights of that era: the long-awaited meeting with Takeru Segawa at THE MATCH 2022. Nasukawa won by unanimous decision and closed the chapter unbeaten at 42-0, with 28 knockouts.
That perfect record is one of the defining facts of the Tenshin Nasukawa career. It also needs a little context. He was not simply collecting wins in one lane. He was fighting under intense attention, often against experienced names, while carrying the expectations that come with being marketed as a prodigy from a very young age.
A brief but real MMA detour
Before boxing became the next destination, Nasukawa also tested himself in mixed martial arts. He fought four times in RIZIN between 2016 and 2017 and won all four bouts, finishing with an MMA record of 4-0.
It was a short run, but not a meaningless one. He scored stoppages, showed he could adapt to a different ruleset, and confirmed that his reflexes translated beyond kickboxing. Even so, MMA never became the main project. It felt more like a proof of athletic range than a permanent move.
The Mayweather exhibition that changed the scale of his fame
On December 31, 2018, Nasukawa stepped into an exhibition boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at RIZIN 14. The event drew global attention, and the mismatch was obvious once the bell rang. Mayweather stopped him in the opening round.
Because it was an exhibition, the result does not count on a professional boxing record. It still became one of the most discussed nights of his career. Nasukawa was dropped multiple times, overwhelmed by the gap in size, experience and pure boxing craft. Afterward, he was visibly emotional in the ring.
That scene stayed with people. Not because it enhanced his standing as a boxer, but because it exposed him. He was young, famous and suddenly being measured against one of the sport’s most polished professionals. The loss was harsh, but it also became part of how the public understood him: talented, ambitious and willing to take a risk that could go badly in full view.
The split from Team Teppen and the end of one era
Around the end of his kickboxing run, his long relationship with Team Teppen changed. Before the Kazane Nagai fight, Nasukawa left the gym setup that had been so closely tied to his father. That detail drew attention in Japan because the separation involved both training and family dynamics.
Public reporting on the reasons was limited, so it is best treated carefully. What can be said clearly is that the move marked a break from the structure that had guided him since childhood. For a fighter whose career had always felt like a family project as much as an individual one, that was a significant shift.
Starting over in professional boxing
Nasukawa announced his move to boxing after retiring from kickboxing. He made his professional boxing debut on April 8, 2023, beating Yuki Yonaha by six-round decision at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
The debut was not spectacular in the knockout sense, but it showed the shape of the project. He was not trying to box like a kickboxer in gloves. He was trying to become a boxer. The stance remained southpaw. The speed remained obvious. But the work became more structured: more jab, more foot placement, more patience.
He signed with Teiken and trained under boxing coach Yuji Okamoto. From there, the matchmaking was active but measured. In his second bout, on September 18, 2023, he stopped Luis Guzman Torres. He then beat Luis Robles Pacheco on January 23, 2024, and followed that with a decision win over Jonathan Rodriguez on July 20, 2024.
Those fights served a purpose. They gave him rounds, different looks and a chance to learn how to score in boxing without relying on the habits that had made him famous in kickboxing.
Moving from prospect to contender
The most important boxing win of his career so far came on February 24, 2025, when he defeated Jason Moloney by unanimous decision. Moloney was a former WBO bantamweight titleholder and a seasoned world-level opponent. Nasukawa did not just survive that step up. He handled it well enough to move from curiosity to genuine contender.
That victory pushed him into the WBC title picture at bantamweight. It also sharpened the conversation around his ceiling. The old crossover label started to fade. He was now being judged against ranked boxers, not against his own celebrity.
His first professional defeat came later, when he challenged Takuma Inoue for the WBA bantamweight title on October 13, 2025. Inoue won by unanimous decision. The loss mattered, but so did the route to it. Nasukawa had reached a world title fight quickly, and against a disciplined champion he found the limits of a still-developing boxing game.
The profile provided for this rewrite described him as a “WBC world bantamweight title challenger” and listed a later win over Juan Francisco Estrada. Those details do not align with the established fight record. Nasukawa challenged Takuma Inoue for the WBA title, not the WBC belt, and there is no verified professional win over Estrada to include here. For accuracy, those claims are removed.
How he fights now
In kickboxing, Nasukawa’s style was built on variety and surprise. He could counter off the back foot, explode with a left hand, or throw techniques from odd angles that broke an opponent’s rhythm. The highlights were flashy, but the engine underneath was precision.
In boxing, the style has narrowed in a useful way. He is still a southpaw counter puncher, but the emphasis is different. The jab matters more. So does positioning his lead foot, controlling range with smaller movements and resisting the urge to overcreate. His best boxing moments tend to come when he draws a lead, makes an opponent miss by a fraction, and answers cleanly.
That is the interesting part of the Tenshin Nasukawa boxing story. He did not enter the sport as a blank slate, and he could not. The challenge has been deciding which instincts to keep and which to sand down.
Outside the ring
Away from competition, Nasukawa has long projected a carefully styled public image. He is known for his interest in fashion, and that has shown up in ring attire and entrances that blend modern design with Japanese references. It fits the broader picture: even as a teenager, he carried himself like someone aware of performance beyond the fight itself.
Family remains central to his story, though not always in simple ways. His father’s role in his development is well documented, and the later camp split added a more complicated note to a partnership that had once seemed inseparable.
As for his private life, it is best not to go beyond verified public reporting. Claims about relationships or other personal matters are often circulated online, but unless confirmed by reliable sources, they should be treated as rumor and not stated as fact.
What is clear without speculation is this: Nasukawa has spent most of his life in public, first as a child talent, then as an unbeaten kickboxing star, and now as a boxer trying to prove that reinvention can be more than a marketing line.
FAQ
Who is Tenshin Nasukawa?
He is a Japanese professional boxer and former kickboxing star from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, who retired from kickboxing unbeaten at 42-0.
What is Tenshin Nasukawa’s boxing record?
His verified professional boxing record depends on the latest officially recorded bout, but he opened his career with wins over Yuki Yonaha, Luis Guzman Torres, Luis Robles Pacheco, Jonathan Rodriguez and Jason Moloney before suffering his first loss to Takuma Inoue.
What was Tenshin Nasukawa’s kickboxing record?
He finished his professional kickboxing career with a 42-0 record and 28 knockouts.
Did Tenshin Nasukawa fight Floyd Mayweather?
Yes. He faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing exhibition on December 31, 2018, at RIZIN 14 and lost by first-round TKO.
What titles did Tenshin Nasukawa win in kickboxing?
He held the RISE Bantamweight title, the RISE World Featherweight title, the ISKA Oriental Rules Bantamweight title and the ISKA Unified Rules Featherweight title, and he won the 2017 RIZIN Flyweight Kickboxing Tournament.
What is Tenshin Nasukawa’s fighting style?
He is a southpaw known for timing, counter punching, speed and sharp distance control. In kickboxing he used a wider range of attacks; in boxing, his style is more jab-focused and compact.
