is a Japanese

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He has held world championships in three weight classes, including the

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

(WBO)

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...

title from 2020 to 2022, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior-bantamweight title in 2023, and the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

(WBC)

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

title since February 2024. As of May 2024, Nakatani is ranked as the world's tenth best active boxer,

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

, by '' The Ring''; ninth by

Transnational Boxing Rankings Board The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) is an all-volunteer initiative formed in October 2012 with the intention of providing professional boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identifying the singular world champion of every divisio ...

(TBRB); and third by BoxRec. He is also ranked as the world's best active bantamweight by ''The Ring'',

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, BoxRec, and second best by TBRB

Professional career

Flyweight

Early career

Nakatani made his professional debut on 26 April 2015, scoring a first-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

(TKO) victory over Junichi Itoga at the Industrial Hall in Gifu, Japan. He would go on to amass a 9-0 record, and was ranked in the flyweight rankings by the JBC following his victory over

Masamichi Yabuki Masamichi Yabuki (born July 9, 1992) is a Japanese professional boxer who held the WBC light flyweight title from 2021 until 2022. As of November 2022, he is ranked as the world's second best active light flyweight by BoxRec, fourth by the Tran ...

. Nakatani was scheduled to fight Atiwit Munyapho on February 19, 2017, in the opening round of the Japanese flyweight Youth Tournament. He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout. He beat Joel Taduran by a fourth-round technical knockout and Yuma Kudo by majority decision over the next two rounds, before facing Seigo Yuri Akui in the tournament finals. He beat Akui by a sixth-round technical knockout. He was further named the tournament MVP. Nakatani won his next four fights, before being scheduled to fight Naoki Mochizuki for the vacant Japanese flyweight title. He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout. He fought Philip Luis Cuerdo on June 1, 2019, and won the fight by a first-round knockout. On July 23, 2019, Nakatani vacated the Japanese flyweight title. Nakatani was scheduled to fight the former

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

and IBO

light flyweight Light flyweight, also known as junior flyweight or super strawweight, is a weight class in boxing. Professional boxing The weight limit at light flyweight in professional boxing is 108 pounds (49 kilograms). When New York legalized boxing in 1920, ...

champion

Milan Melindo Milan Melindo (born February 29, 1988) is a Filipino professional boxer who held the IBF and IBO light-flyweight titles in 2017. He also challenged for the unified WBA (Super) and WBO flyweight titles in 2013 and the IBF, WBA (Super), and WB ...

on October 5, 2019. He beat Melindo by a sixth-round technical knockout.

Nakatani vs. Magramo

Nakatani was scheduled to fight Giemel Magramo for the vacant WBO flyweight title on 6 November 2020 at the Korakuen Hall. The bout was originally set for April but due to the COVID-19 pandemic was postponed and rescheduled thrice. Nakatani entered the bout as the favorite to win the title. Nakatani dominated the bout, punishing his opponent from range, and landing with more power when Magramo closed in. Nakatani won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout. The referee waved the fight off early on in the round, as Magramo was knocked down with a combination of punches, although Magramo managed to beat the count.

Nakatani vs. Acosta

Nakatani was scheduled to make his first title defense against the former WBO

champion

Ángel Acosta Ángel Acosta Gómez (born October 8, 1990) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who held the WBO light flyweight title from 2017 to 2019. As an amateur, Acosta won the gold medal at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. Early life Ac ...

on May 29, 2021, in his native Japan. Increasingly strict

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

regulations imposed by the Japanese government and international travel issues forced the postponement of the bout, with Nakatani's management tentatively announcing the fight for late May or early June. On May 26, 2021, WBO scheduled a June 1st purse bid with a minimum offer of $80,000. That purse bid was canceled on June 2, 2021, as an agreement was made that Nakatani’s promoter, Teiken Promotions, would handle the negotiations. The fight was scheduled for September 10, 2021, in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. Nakatani won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout. Nakatani broke Acosta's nose in the opening round of the bout, and both the referee and the ringside physician warned Acosta that the fight would be stopped if his nose suffered more damage. The fight was finally stopped near the end of the fourth round, at the 2:28 minute mark.

Nakatani vs. Yamauchi

Nakatani was booked to make his second WBO flyweight title defense against the reigning WBO Asia Pacific flyweight titleholder Ryota Yamauchi on April 9, 2022. The bout was scheduled for the undercard of the Ryota Murata and Gennadiy Golovkin middleweight unification bout, and took place at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

in Saitama, Japan. He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout, forcing referee Katsuhiko Nakamura to stop the bout with a flurry of punches at the 2:20 minute mark. Nakatani was leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with all three judges' having him up 70–63.

Super flyweight

Nakatani vs. Rodríguez Jr.

Nakatani is going to face the former WBO super flyweight title challenger Francisco Rodríguez Jr. in a super flyweight bout on 1 November 2022. The fight took place on the undercard of the

Hiroto Kyoguchi is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF mini-flyweight title from 2017 to 2018, and the WBA (Super) and '' The Ring'' light-flyweight titles from 2018 to 2022. As of October 2022, he is ranked a ...

and

Kenshiro Teraji , known professionally by his ring name , is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a two-time and unified light flyweight champion, having held the WBC light flyweight title from 2017 to 2021, and the unified WBA (Super), WBC, and ''The Ring' ...

title unification bout. Nakatani officially vacated his WBO flyweight title on 27 October. Nakatani won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 98–91, 97–92 and 99–90. Rodríguez Jr. was deducted a point in the seventh round for landing a low blow.

Nakatani vs. Moloney

On 1 January 2023, the reigning WBO super flyweight champion

Kazuto Ioka is a Japanese professional boxer. He is the first male Japanese boxer and fourth Asian to be a four-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA and WBC mini-flyweight titles between 2011 and 2012, the WBA (Regular) light-flyweight tit ...

was ordered by the sanctioning body to make a mandatory title defense against Nakatani. As Ioka vacated the title on 14 February to pursue a rematch with

Joshua Franco Joshua Franco (born October 27, 1995) is an American professional boxer who has held the WBA super flyweight title since 2020. Professional career Early career Franco made his professional debut on August 6, 2015, scoring a four-round split d ...

, Nakatani was instead ordered to face Andrew Moloney for the vacant championship. The fight took place on 20 May 2023, at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. On the night, Nakatani dropped Moloney in the second round with a series of uppercuts. Nakatani scored another knockdown in the eleventh round, before scoring a one-punch knockout in the twelfth round to win the vacant WBO title. The knockout was later voted

The Ring magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

Knockout of the Year.

Nakatani vs. Cortes

Nakatani was scheduled to make his first WBO super flyweight title defense against Argi Cortes on September 18, 2023, at the

Ariake Arena The Ariake Arena is a multi-sport venue located in Ariake, Tokyo, Ariake, Tokyo, Japan. It served as the Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, volleyball venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the Wheelchair basketball at the 2020 Summer Paraly ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He won the fight by unanimous decision.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakatani, Junto 1998 births Living people Japanese male boxers Sportspeople from Mie Prefecture Southpaw boxers World flyweight boxing champions World super-flyweight boxing champions World bantamweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions World Boxing Council champions