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Who is Rukiya Anpo? – Ryan Garcia’s December Opponent

Written by Tom Eaton on 19th November 2024.

Rukiya Anpo

Ryan Garcia has had a rollercoaster 2024, going from a career-best win to a one-year ban. However, despite being unable to box professionally until April, it seems as though Garcia will make his ring return next month against a fighter who is lesser known in the western world – Rukiya Anpo. Here, we at Boxing Social took a look at what Anpo will bring to the table.

Born in Himeji, Japan, Anpo turned made his professional kickboxing debut at the age of 16-years-old, after starring in a documentary where he and his brother were depicted as future superstars of Karate, impressing in competitions on the world stage.

Eight years later, with a record of 17-6, ‘The Demolition man’ challenged Thailand’s Kaew Fairtex for the K-1 super-lightweight championship and claimed world honours in controversial fashion.

Anpo and Fairtex battled to a draw after three rounds of action, but K-1 rules mean that an extra-round is fought rather than a tie being declared. In the fourth-round, Fairtex was given a harsh yellow card for pulling Anpo’s head down and thus would lose the deciding round.

As such, Anpo felt the need to call for the rematch with Fairtex and the pair would meet for a second encounter just six months later, but once again an extra round for required and once again Anpo won it, successfully defending his belt.

Anpo, who fights out of he and his brothers ‘All Win’ gym in Osaka, would make just one more defence of the title before losing by first-round knockout to Hideaki Yamazaki in 2022 and moving up to the welterweight division and unsuccessfully challenging Masaaki Noiri for the title after three consecutive wins at the weight.

In 2023, Anpo made the switch to fight for Japanese MMA franchise ‘Rizin’ and amassed one win, one draw and one loss with the franchise before he was offered the chance to face pound-for-pound legend Manny Pacquiao in a boxing exhibition back in July.

Pacquiao had been eyeing up a return to the professional scene beforehand and was reportedly planning to use the exhibition to shake off any remaining ring rust prior to a world title clash against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.

Although, the 45-year-old Filipino fan-favourite was subject to a brutal beatdown by Anpo and talks of his return have since gone quiet, with supporters around the globe grimacing at the thought of this version of ‘Pac-Man’ attempting to dethrone Barrios.

Nevertheless, Anpo has received plaudits for the boxing skills that he showed in the exhibition, regardless of the fact that the bout was officially ruled a draw.

Now, Ryan Garcia will hope that Anpo is not able to sway a second professional boxer away from a return, when the pair meet in a pay-per-view event on December 30th in Tokyo.

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