Ahead of this weekend, Junto Nakatani and Japanese fight fans were gearing themselves up for a mega-fight between the WBC bantamweight champion and Naoya Inoue – with a clear plan in place. Now, those plans have gone out of the window, but Nakatani will assumably still pursue the clash, albeit by an alternate route.
Naoya Inoue recently revealed his willingness to stage an all-Japanese showdown between himself and fellow superstar Nakatani but believed that the undefeated 118lber should first face his brother, Takuma Inoue, in a bantamweight unification bout.
Unfortunately, Takuma Inoue lost his WBA bantamweight title to Seiya Tsutsumi in a fight of the year contender in Sunday’s main-event as a part of the two-day Japanese boxing festival at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, ending hopes of witnessing Nakatani face the brother of the arguable pound-for-pound number one.
Meanwhile, Nakatani headlined the Monday main-event of the festival against Tasana Salapat, who had lost just once in 77 professional contests, that defeat coming at the hands of the very same Takuma Inoue.
Though Inoue didn’t fulfil his side of the agreement this weekend, Junto Nakatani’s win was an emphatic as one has become accustomed to when tuning in to witness 26-year-old southpaw.
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From the opening round onwards, it was clear to see that Salapat, known also as Petch CP Freshmart and Petch Sor Chitpattana, was overmatched, proving his easy-on-the-eye record to be a typically false one that is often seen in Thai contenders.
After buckling the legs of the challenger in the first round, Nakatani bided his time until the second to deal further consequential damage and put a number of punch sequences together to further showcase the discrepancy in skill.
Offering little in return and with minimal defence against a power-puncher such as Nakatani, Chitpattana’s downfall seemed inevitable, but it did not come as early as expected, much to the credit of the chin and front-footed pressure of Salapat, as well as the patience of the champion.
In the fifth, Salapat appeared to become aware that he would need a stoppage to win and began to exchange with Nakatani, a proposal that most in the bantamweight division would perceive to be a deathwish.
However, in the sixth, the same tactics were applied from the challenger and he was subsequently sent flying into the canvas at the hands of a brutal combination from Nakatani.
With seconds to spare in the round, an authoritative straight left-hand put an end to the contest, the game Chitpattana falling face-first in dramatic fashion to continue Nakatani’s now three-fight knockout streak since moving up to bantamweight.
EMPHATIC FROM NAKATANI 🥊
Junto Nakatani STOPS Petch Sor Chitpattana with a VICIOUS left hand to retain his WBC bantamweight crown and remain undefeated 👑 pic.twitter.com/zX87K6Y9z7
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) October 14, 2024
During the aftermath, Nakatani did not disclose his ambition to meet with Naoya Inoue but did target that he will fight anybody with a title, alluding to either a date with ‘The Monster’ or the plan to unify the belts at 118lbs.
Elsewhere on today’s bill, there was an impressive win for fan-favourite former kickboxing champion Tenshin Nasukawa, who dominated the previously undefeated Gerwin Asilo to win a unanimous-decision and edge towards a bantamweight world title shot.
That came after South Africa’s Phumelele Cafu sprung the split-decision upset over Kosei Tanaka to claim the WBO super-flyweight title and Anthony Olascuaga’s defence of the WBO flyweight title was rendered as a no contest following a questionable cut suffered by Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez.
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Ariake Arena Sunday Results:
Takuma Inoue (20-1) vs. Seiya Tsutsumi (11-0-2) – WBA Bantamweight World Title – Tsutsumi UD
Kenshiro Teraji (23-1) vs. Cristofer Rosales (37-6) – (vacant) WBC Flyweight World Title – Teraji TKO11
Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1) vs. Thananchai Charunphak (25-1) – WBA Flyweight World Title – Akui SD
Shokichi Iwata (13-1) vs. Jairo Noriega (14-0) – WBO Light-Flyweight World Title – Iwata TKO3
Ryuga Sato (1-0) vs. Asato Sato (1-1-1) – Bantamweight – Majority Draw
Ariake Arena Monday Results:
Junto Nakatani (28-0) vs. Tasana Salapat (76-1) – WBC Bantamweight World Title – Nakatani TKO6
Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0) vs. Gerwin Asilo (9-0) – WBO Bantamweight Asia Pacific Title – Nasukawa UD
Kosei Tanaka (20-1) vs. Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3) – WBO Super-Flyweight World Title – Cafu SD
Anthony Olascuaga (7-1) vs. Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1) – WBO Flyweight World Title – No Contest
Excell James Junior (2-1) vs. Ayato Kobayashi (1-0) – Super-Lightweight – Majority Draw
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