While Naoya Inoue has become Japan’s biggest breakthrough star on the international stage, Junto Nakatani has been doing plenty of his own work to become a star. On Sunday, Nakatani will put his WBC bantamweight title on the line when he faces IBF champion Ryosuke Nishida in a unification bout in Tokyo.
Nakatani (30-0, 23 KO) has ripped through opponents to this point in his career. He won his first championship in 2020, stopping Giemel Magramo to win the WBO flyweight title. He defended that belt twice — both times by stoppage — before moving up to junior bantamweight. Two fights later, Nakatani scored a brutal left hand knockout of Jason Moloney to win the WBO title at 115 pounds.
Nakatani defended his junior bantamweight title once before continuing to climb in weight, scoring a February 2024 knockout of Alexandro Santiago to win the WBC bantamweight belt.
Nakatani’s run at bantamweight has been more impressive than his already impressive accomplishments at the two previous weight divisions, with four knockouts in a one-year stretch.
In Nishida (10-0, 2 KO), Nakatani faces one of the stiffest available tests in a division dominated by Japanese fighters.
Despite only having 10 professional fights, Nishida beat former world title challenger Shohei Omori in just his third pro bout and former WBC flyweight champ Daigo Higa in his fourth.
In May 2024, Nishida won an impressive decision over two-time champion Emmanuel Rodríguez to win the IBF bantamweight title, which he successfully defended with a December TKO of Anuchai Donsua.
Nishida is no easy out for Nakatani, but the attention will be on if Nakatani can get a win and move closer to an all-Japanese megafight with Inoue, a fellow knockout artist who has won world titles at junior flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight (where he went undisputed) and junior featherweight (where he is currently undisputed).
If not Inoue, another big-money fight for Nakatani would be against Tenshin Nasukawa, an extremely accomplished kickboxer who transitioned to boxing, where he currently holds a 6-0 record. Nasukawa is on Saturday’s card, where he will face Victor Santillan.
Date: June 8 | Location: Ariake Colosseum — Tokyo
Start time: 4 a.m. ET
TV: ESPN | Stream: ESPN+
As mentioned, Nishida is a good boxer with impressive wins in his short career. Nakatani would be foolish to overlook Nishida because he’s focused on chasing a fight with Inoue, and I doubt he will make that mistake. That means the fight simply comes down to the fighters and their respective skills.
Where Nishida comes up short is in lacking power, something Nakatani certainly possesses. If Nishida can’t land a powerful enough shot to get Nakatani’s respect, the fight becomes Nakatani bullying his way forward, where he can land heavy combinations. Nishida is a skilled boxer, but he will need to fight a perfect fight to get the win, and Nakatani is too good and hits too hard to let that happen.
It’s time to start dreaming about a Nakatani vs. Inoue fight — hopefully by 2026. And, if not, or possibly before, the consolation prize of Nakatani vs. Nasukawa. Pick: Junto Nakatani via TKO6
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