Masayoshi Nakatani (中谷正義, ''Nakatani Masayoshi'', born March 8, 1989) is a Japanese professional boxer. He held the OPBF

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

title between 2014 and 2019, and won the

WBO 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 ...

Inter-Continental lightweight title in 2020.

Professional career

Early career

Nakatani fought the first 18 bouts of his professional career in his native Japan. During this time, he won the OPBF lightweight title in January 2014, and successfully defended it 11 times.

Rise up the ranks

Nakatani vs. López

After compiling a perfect record of 18-0, Nakatani made his first appearance in the ring outside of Japan when he faced fellow undefeated contender

Teófimo López Teófimo Andrés López Rivera (born July 30, 1997) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified lightweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2019 to November 2021, and the WBA (Super), WBO, and '' The Ring'' magazi ...

on July 19, 2019 in

Oxon Hill, Maryland Oxon Hill is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in southern Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Oxon Hill is a suburb of Washington, D.C., Washington, located southeast of the dow ...

in an eliminator for the

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 ...

lightweight title. Nakatani lost a

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

, with scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109.

Nakatani vs. Verdejo

On December 12, 2020 in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

, Nakatani defeated Félix Verdejo by ninth-round technical knockout despite being down on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage to capture the vacant

Inter-Continental lightweight title. The bout was an exciting one, with both men exchanging two knockdowns apiece. In his post-fight interview, Nakatani stated his desire to avenge his loss to Teófimo López, who had since become unified lightweight champion: “I fought Teófimo López before and I want to fight him again. That’s why I kept going tonight. I want to go for the knockout n a rematch with Lópezlike I did today."

Nakatani vs. Lomachenko

Nakatani returned to the ring on June 26, 2021 in Paradise, Nevada to face former three-division world champion

Vasiliy Lomachenko Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple triple champion#Boxing, world championships in ...

, with whom he shares a common loss to Teófimo López. Nakatani was knocked down twice en route to a ninth-round technical knockout loss.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakatani, Masayoshi Living people Japanese male boxers Lightweight boxers 1989 births Sportspeople from Osaka