Two of the biggest fights of the year take place on the same day in separate parts of the world, with Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani colliding in an all-Japanese banger before Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and David Benavidez engage in a Mexican shootout for the ages in Las Vegas.
The favorites in both fights are Inoue and Benavidez. Perhaps for good reason considering their pound-for-pound accolades. However, in fights like this, which are as close to 50:50 as can be, the underdogs cannot be discounted.
And, when speaking to ESPN, another former pound-for-pound sensation, Jorge Linares, broke down why Nakatani could have the edge and pull off a surprise win over knockout puncher Inoue.
“Something specific for Nakatani to do should be using his lead jab and left-handed counterpunches a lot more,” Linares said.
“Nakatani is a southpaw, and Inoue doesn’t really like fighting left-handers.”
— Jorge Linares analyzes Inoue-Nakatani
Linares added: “Inoue doesn’t throw that many punches, but the ones he does throw are very powerful. And his timing is impeccable, too. It’s impressive, precise, especially the counterattack.”
With thumping wins across multiple weight classes over Nonito Donaire, Stephen Fulton, and Luis Nery, among others, and meets Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome in Japan for a card DAZN streams worldwide.
But Nakatani, too, has his highlight-reel moments with knockouts over Andrew Moloney and Ryosuke Nishida, among others.
For Linares “this is a tough fight to predict.”
He said: “Honestly, it’s 50-50 – and the first time I’ve seriously questioned whether Inoue could lose. I think it’s going to be very close, very close. I’ll go with Nakatani.”
