Seventy-nine seconds into Top Rank’s official YouTube video titled “A Look Into Junto Nakatani’s Training Camp” and the name Naoya Inoue is already mentioned.
It’s no surprise. The Japanese “Monster” has become boxing royalty down in the lower weight divisions and has been in the conversation for the sport’s mythical pound-for-pound top spot for many years — but this weekend isn’t about him.
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In the early hours of Sunday morning inside Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum, Junto Nakatani (30-0, 23 KOs) makes the fourth defense of his WBC bantamweight title against IBF king Ryosuke Nishida (10-0, 2 KOs) — and in doing so, Nakatani is attempting to grease the wheel for a potential meeting with Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) in a year’s time.
It’s a mistake we’ve seen boxing make time and time again. When too much investment is placed in future, speculative real estate, it can cause the here and now to suffer. In this case, a three-weight world champion in Nakatani will see his career put on trial until he meets the one fighter who has been unfairly deemed his “final boss” — Inoue.
This is not to suggest that us, as fans, shouldn’t pine for these mouth-watering spectacles. But in doing so, context needs to be applied. The success of a boxing career isn’t binary and Nakatani deserves his own moment in the sun before he is placed next to the Inoue measuring stick.
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Nakatani, himself, is adding fuel to the Inoue fire. Though it’s hard to dodge the bullet of questioning when it is fired so readily. “He (Inoue) inspires me to get better as a fighter,” the 27-year-old explained during his final press conference ahead of his bantamweight unification clash. “We are hoping that this time next year we can get this fight [with Inoue], but a lot can happen between now and then.”
Like the “Monster,” Nakatani has 30 wins on his pro slate, but has reached this milestone with less focus, attention and fanfare than his senior countryman. Based in the United States, the power-punching knockout artist has stopped all four of his opponents at 118 pounds so far, last hearing the final bell in September 2023 in a one-sided rout of Argi Cortes at super flyweight.
I was in attendance that night in Tokyo, Japan, and it was Kenshiro Teraji and Tenshin Nasukawa who received the lion’s share of the attention from the passionate yet traditionally subdued Japanese crowd.
Much like that evening in his nation’s capital, Nakatani’s work thus far has been done in the shadow of others — but it has clearly been of benefit. The emotional drain of acting as the sport’s flag-bearer for a nation can take its toll on those ill-prepared.
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Nakatani’s grounding is underpinned by his career-long head trainer, Rudy Hernandez, who has crafted his charge’s tools since the age of 15. The head honcho of the L.A Boxing Gym knows all too well that nothing is promised in boxing.
“I believe that if it does happen (Inoue vs. Nakatani), it’ll be the greatest fight in Japanese boxing history,” Hernandez told the Top Rank cameras. “But there is not a single fighter in the history of this sport that maintained No. 1 forever. What comes up must come down. Junto is the guy today, but he might not be the guy tomorrow.”
Nakatani’s opponent this weekend can’t be filed into the folder titled “William Scull and friends.” Nishida is an unbeaten champion in his own right, and will be viewing Nakatani as his own potential stepping-stone to greatness in the sport. Both southpaws share similarities in their styles, and despite just the two stoppages on his record, Nishida has real pop in his punches.
It’s important we don’t wish-cast careers like Nakatani’s away. If he wins this weekend, he will undoubtedly deserve credit and to receive his flowers for unifying the bantamweight division, not to simply be treated as the victor of a supposed “No. 1 contender” fight for Inoue. Similarly, if he loses, we shouldn’t reduce his career to “what might have been,” speculating on the size of the damage caused.
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