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 Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council responded to pressure from Asi ...

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 Federatio ...

(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. Bra ...

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 d ...

, 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 BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profe ...

. 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%). The ...

, 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 striking, a ...

(TKO) victory over Junichi Itoga at the Industrial Hall in

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

, 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 Tra ...

. 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 , better known as Seigo Yuri Akui, is a Japanese professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight title since January 2024. Personal life He played association football until the first year of junior high school, whe ...

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 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 WBC ...

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

Nakatani vs. Magramo

Nakatani was scheduled to fight

Giemel Magramo Giemel Abuan Magramo (born 5 October 1994) is a Filipino professional boxer, who challenged for the WBO flyweight title in 2020. As of December 2021, he is ranked as the world's sixth best active flyweight by BoxRec, and tenth by the Transnation ...

for the vacant WBO flyweight title on 6 November 2020 at the

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a ...

. 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 quickl ...

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 ...

. 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 is a Japanese professional boxer who has held the WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title since 2020. As of December 2021, he is ranked as the world's tenth best flyweight by '' The Ring''. Professional boxing career Yamauchi made his professional de ...

on April 9, 2022. The bout was scheduled for the undercard of the Ryota Murata and

Gennadiy Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time ...

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 ...

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 Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...

title challenger

Francisco Rodríguez Jr. Jose Francisco Rodríguez Tamayo (born 10 July 1993) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former unified mini flyweight world champion, having held the WBO title from March to December 2014 and the IBF title from August to October 2014. R ...

in a super flyweight bout on 1 November 2022. The fight took place on the undercard of the Hiroto Kyoguchi and Kenshiro Teraji 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 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 ...

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 t ...

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, 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, 199 ...

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 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 in

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 37.4 ...

. 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