Junto Nakatani ‘Really Wants’ Naoya Inoue Fight After Dominant World Title Defense
Junto Nakatani successfully defended his WBC bantamweight world title on Saturday with an emphatic first-round knockout of Vincent Astrolabio and immediately called out Naoya Inoue.
Nakatani (28-0-0 21 KO) extended his perfect professional record at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan after sending Astrolabio (19-5-0 14 KO) to the canvas with 38 seconds remaining of the opening round.
A crunching left straight to the body had the Filipino challenger on both knees and writhing in pain. He attempted to climb to his feet and managed to beat the 10 count, only to immediately drop to the deck again as referee Thomas Taylor waved off the fight.
It was the 26-year-old champion’s first defense of his 118lbs world title having first won the belt in February with a sixth-round stoppage of Alexandro Santiago at the same arena.
The victory against the tough Astrolabio was a also huge statement from three-weight world champion Nakatani, whose skill and power have quickly marked him as not only the next big star of Japanese boxing but as a legitimate pound-for-pound contender.
Nakatani Sends Warning To Bantamweight Rivals
“I thought this was going to be a long fight,” Nakatani said. “Luckily I landed that punch early to end the fight.”
The defeat means Astrolabio has now lost both world title fights he has contested, although his previous attempt, in May 2023, was far more competitive having taken Jason Maloney to a majority decision for the vacant WBO belt.
This destructive KO should therefore send shivers through the rest of the bantamweight division as Nakatani continues to prove that his power has remained effective as he climbed through the weight classes.
Nakatani first became a world champion in November 2020 at flyweight when he defeated Giemel Magramo via eighth-round stoppage. Two title defenses followed before the Japanese fighter moved up to super-flyweight, and he earned two-weight champion status by stopping Andrew Maloney in the 12th round of their bout in May 2023 to claim the vacant WBO super-flyweight belt.
After a single defense – a rare points win over Argi Cortes last September – Nakatani climbed again to bantamweight and became a three-weight world champion in his first bout by knocking out Santiago.
Undisputed And Inoue The Targets
Now Nakatani has two targets in his sights: become undisputed at bantamweight and step up to super-bantamweight to face the mighty Inoue.
To achieve his first goal, the WBC champion will need to conquer a succession of Japanese rivals. Ryosuke Nishida holds the IBF title, Yoshiki Takei is the WBO champion, and Naoya’s younger brother Takuma Inoue has the WBA belt.
“I would like to unify the titles or move up to [122] to win the championship there,” Nakatani said.
Should Nakatani hold all four titles at 118lbs, he will closely emulate the achievements of Inoue, who was undisputed at bantamweight before repeating the trick at 122lbs, becoming only the second male fighter after Terence Crawford to be undisputed in two divisions. Therefore a fight between the two biggest stars of Japanese boxing has the potential to be one of the biggest bouts in Asian combat sports history.
“The fight with [Naoya] Inoue is the one I really want,” Nakatani said. “A lot of people are really expecting this fight. I will continue to get stronger and will be ready for that fight.”
