Tenshin Nasukawa

Tenshin Nasukawa (Japanese: 那須川 天心, Nasukawa Tenshin; born August 18, 1998) is a Japanese professional boxer, former professional kickboxer and mixed martial artist. A generational talent, Nasukawa was regarded as a top pound for pound talent throughout most of his career as a professional kickboxer and one of the greatest kickboxers in the history of the sport.

A professional kickboxer between 2012 and 2022, Nasukawa is the former RISE Bantamweight (55 kg) and RISE World Featherweight (57.5 kg) champion. He was also the ISKA Unified Rules Featherweight (57 kg) and Oriental Rules Bantamweight (55 kg) champion, as well as the 2017 Rizin Flyweight (57 kg) Kickboxing Tournament winner. At the end of his professional kickboxing career, in July 2022, Nasukawa was ranked as the best kickboxer under 58 kg and the best pound for pound kickboxer in the world by Combat Press.

Amateur kickboxing career

It is said that he initially started learning Kyokushin Karate at age five as his father who worried about his timidity forced him to enter a karate dojo. He won the 2009 International Youth Kyokushin Karate Championships, when he was a fifth grader in elementary school. After that, he became more drawn to kickboxing and began to train it.

"I practiced karate until I was in sixth grade. I was winning competitions at a national level," he told Bleacher Report. "I wanted to participate on that big stage. There was no specific individual that inspired me. I was attracted to the stage."

Nasukawa's kickboxing style is influenced by Boxing, Muay Thai and his Kyokushin Karate background. Nasukawa fights out of the southpaw stance, and is primarily a counter puncher, staying on the outer perimeter of the ring and landing as his opponents try to move in to land strikes. He is well known for his tendency to mix in acrobatic techniques like spinning kicks, rolling kicks, and jumping knees with high precision and success.

"I don't even want to imagine what kind of fighter he will turn out to be in five years," one of Nasukawa's opponents, MMA fighter Yusaku Nakamura said in praise. Nasukawa defeated Nakamura in a kickboxing bout by technical knock out after Nasukawa dropped Nakamura three times. In the fight Nasukawa landed a counter spinning drop kick to Nakamura's face, breaking his nose.

Tenshin amassed an amateur record of 99–5–3 by the age of 15 before he turned professional in kickboxing.

Professional kickboxing career

Early career

Nasukawa made his highly anticipated professional kickboxing debut at the centennial RISE event on July 12, 2014. He was booked to face Tomo Arimatsu. Nasukawa won the fight by a first-round knockout, needing just 58 seconds to stop Arimatsu with a head kick. Nasukawa next faced Aleksandro Hideo at Rise 101 on September 28, 2014. He first knocked Hideo down with a left body kick in the second minute of the opening round, which he followed by a second knockdown with a step-in left knee which left his opponent unable to rise from the canvas.

Nasukawa faced the 20-fight veteran Makoto Kushima at Rise 102 on November 16, 2014, in his third fight with the promotion. He won the fight by unanimous decision, the first decision victory of his professional career. Two of the judges scored the bout 30–28 for Nasukawa, while the third judge scored the bout 30–27 in his favor.

Nasukawa was expected to face the BigBang super bantamweight champion Taisuke Degai at the inaugural BLADE event on December 29, 2014. Degai withdrew from the bout on November 29, for undisclosed reasons, and was replaced by Kim Jin Min. Nasukawa won the fight by a first-round knockout, needing just 100 seconds to stop Min with a well place knee strike to the body.

RISE Bantamweight champion

Nasukawa vs. Fujimoto

Nasukawa, at the time the #4 ranked RISE bantamweight contender, was booked to face the former Shootboxing Japan super bantamweight champion Masahiro Fujimoto at Rise 104 on March 21, 2015. He knocked Fujimoto twice by the 2:06 minute mark of the first round, first time with a flurry of punches and knees and the second time with a left straight. The second knockdown left his opponent sprawled on the canvas and unable to rise, which forced the referee to wave the fight off. Following this victory, Nasukawa was named the eFight "Fighter of the Month" for the month of March. As Nasukawa took no damage in the fight, on March 30 it was announced that Nasukawa would face every RISE KAMINARIMON amateur champion in exhibition bouts on April 5.

Nasukawa vs. Murakoshi

After making quick work of Fujimoto, and amassing a 6–0 professional record, Nasukawa was given the chance to challenge the reigning RISE Bantamweight champion Yuta Murakoshi. The fight was scheduled as the main event of Rise 105, which took place on May 31, 2015. Murakoshi entered the bout riding a nine-fight winning streak, although this was his first title defense. After a relatively even first round, Nasukawa was able to force a standing count with a combination of a left knee and a left hook. He quickly followed this up with a combination of punches which prompted the referee to step in and stop the fight. He became the youngest titlist in RISE history, having captured the title at the age of 16 years and 10 months. This victory earned him the eFight "Fighter of the Month" award for May.

Blade Japan Cup

On June 9, a week after he had captured the RISE title, it was announced that Nasukawa would be one of eight participants in the BLADE 2 super bantamweight tournament. Event promoter Genki Yamaguchi saw him as the favorite to win, stating: "Nasukawa is the perfect candidate for the championship. The question is, who can stop him?". The one-day tournament took place at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Ōta, Tokyo on August 1, 2015.

Nasukawa faced the DEEP KICK super bantamweight champion Masahiko Suzuki in the tournament quarterfinals. He knocked Suzuki down twice inside of the first two minutes of the opening round, with a counter left straight and a left hook, which resulted in an automatic technical knockout victory for him under the tournament rules. Nasukawa faced Yukinori Ogasawara in the penultimate bout of the contest. He won the fight by a third-round knockout, flooring Ogasawara with a left hook. Nasukawa advanced to the finals, where he faced the incumbent Shootboxing Japan 55 kg champion Taiki Naito. He knocked Naito down thrice by the 1:41 minute mark of the first round, which resulted in a technical knockout victory for him. Aside from the tournament title, Nasukawa was awarded a ¥3,000,000 cash prize as well. He was awarded the eFight August "Fighter of the Month", his third such award of the year.

Nasukawa vs. Alamos, Kalistis, Miyamoto

On September 9, 2015, it was announced that Nasukawa would fight at Rise 108 on November 8, 2015. His opponent was revealed nine days later. Nasukawa was expected to fight a non-title bout with the former WBC Muaythai World Featherweight champion Hakim Hamech. Hamech later withdrew for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Mike Alamos (26–6). Nasukawa won the fight by a first-round knockout. He first knocked Alamos down with a left straight, before stopping him with a left knee to the body, which left his opponent unable to beat the eight-count.

Nasukawa faced Manolis Kalistis in the co-main event of Rise 109 on January 31, 2016. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with two scorecards of 30–26 and one scorecard of 30–25. Nasukawa knocked Kalistis down twice: first time with a left hook to the body and the second time with a flurry of punches to which the Greek fighter failed to respond. Nasukawa was shown a yellow card in the first round for throwing knee strikes while holding Kalistis' head with both hands.

Nasukawa faced the reigning WBC Muay Thai International Super Bantamweight titlist Keisuke Miyamoto in a non-title bout at No Kick, No Life 2016 on March 12, 2016. It was the first time that he was scheduled to fight in a five round bout, with all his previous bouts being three minute three round bouts. Miyamoto was originally expected to participate in the 2015 Blade Japan Cup, which Nasukawa eventually won, but withdrew with a fist injury. Nasukawa won the fight by a second-round knockout. He first staggered Miyamoto with a left straight, before knocking him out with a left knee to the body.