Yoshiki Takei vs DeKang Wang Preview May 2nd, 2026
Former WBO Bantamweight Champion Yoshiki Takei of Japan is back in the ring this Saturday, May 2nd to take on DeKang Wang of China. The eight-round super bantamweight fight from Tokyo can be seen live in most nations on DAZN on the undercard of the Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani tilt. The fight can also be seen on Lemino in Japan and reportedly on ESPN Knockout in Latin America, beginning at 5:40 am ET. Takei beat Jason Moloney via a 12-round unanimous decision to win the WBO belt in May, 2024 and then beat fellow countryman Daigo Haiga via a controversial unanimous decision in a slugfest in his first defence. He stopped Yuttapong Tongdee 127 seconds in his second defence but was halted by Chrisitan Medina in the fourth round in September in his last outing. Wang’s last contest resulted in a 12-round unanimous decision loss to Fillipus Nghitumbwa in a shot at the WBO Africa Super Bantamweight Belt in April, 2024.
Takei vs Wang Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- DeKang Wang +800
- Yoshiki Takei -1500
My Pick
Takei is a 29-year-old southpaw who has fought just 55 rounds since making his pro debut in 2021. He is a former kickboxer who held the K-1 Super Bantamweight Championship between 2017 and 2020, and was the 2017 and 2019 K-1 Super Bantamweight Grand Prix Champion. Takei retired from kickboxing in late 2020 and at the time, he was the top-ranked 122 lb boxer and eighth best pound-for-pound kickboxer in the world. He makes the ring walk with a fine mark of 11-1 with 9 Ko’s and won the Oriental and Pacific Super Bantamweight Title in his fifth fight when he stopped Pete Apolinar in the fifth round in August, 2022.
It’s quite obvious that Takei has good power as he’s stopped every opponent other than Moloney, Higa and Medina and 81.8 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. This includes four first-round stoppages; two in the second round; one in the third; one in the fifth and one in the 11th. His victories have come against Tongdee, Higa, Moloney, Apolinar, Kazunori Takai, Azusa Takeda, Kazuhiro Imamura, Shingo Kawamura, Bruno Tarimo, Ronnie Baldonado and Mario Diaz Maldonado. Takei measures 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67.5-inch reach.
Wang is just 26 years old and owns a record of 9-1 with 3 Ko’s and has 76 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2017 as a teenager. He possesses below-average power as just 33.3 per cent of his victories have come by stoppage and he’s gone the distance in five of his past six fights. He fought his first eight pro fights in China before travelling to Thailand and then Africa for a bout each.
Unfortunately there’s no height and reach information on Wang so we don’t know how he stacks up against Takei in those departments. This is his first fight in two years though so he may have to deal with some ring rust on his latest road trip. His lone pro defeat came in his last fight when he dropped the unanimous decision to Fillipus Nghitumbwa. Wang had started his career off at 9-0 and is reportedly the WBA Asia Super Bantamweight Champion.
It’s hard to get an accurate read on Wang however as some outlets claim that he defended the WBA Asia Super Bantamweight Belt with an 11th-round TKO over Herlan Gomez on February 26th in China. The WBA claims that Wang’s record is actually 13-1 and he has defended his title three times. BoxRec has no record of this fight though and three of his other reported contests.
Prediction…
Even though he was stopped in his last fight, there’s no question that Takei has successfully made the transition from kickboxing to boxing and has brought the power along with him. He is still relatively new to boxing though and he ran out of gas late in the Moloney fight when Moloney really poured on the pressure over the last few rounds in a desperate attempt to hold onto his title. He also arguably lost to Higa in slugfest in 2024. Wang appears to have a solid chin but I don’t think he has the power in his punches to keep Takei off of him. If Takei lets his hands go and is as aggressive as he usually is I’m expecting him to bounce back with a win.
Takei has the edge in power and is fighting at home.
Play: Takei -1500 @ BetOnline.ag
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DeKang Wang betting • Yoshiki Takei betting