Junto Nakatani Unifies World Titles After Ryosuke Nishida’s Retirement
Junto Nakatani consolidated his dominance in the bantamweight division by defeating Ryosuke Nishida, who retired due to an eye injury before the start of the seventh round in their world title unification bout.
Nakatani added Nishida’s IBF title to his WBC belt, reaffirming himself as the number one in the division. The precision of his punches closed Nishida’s right eye, leading to a medical inspection and the decision to retire him after the sixth round at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan.
Naoya Inoue, who is rumored to have a possible fight against Nakatani next year, watched from ringside as Nakatani took control in rounds five and six, defending his WBC title for the fourth time.
Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs), a 27-year-old three-weight world champion from Kanagawa, Japan, will now consider moving up to super bantamweight or seeking another unification fight at bantamweight.
The other world champions in the 118-pound division are Antonio Vargas (WBA) and Yoshiki Takei (WBO). There is talk of a big fight against Inoue for next year, so Nakatani is expected to have a fight in the meantime.
A clash against Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) could be the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.
Nakatani is in the top 10 of the pound-for-pound ranking and this victory brings him closer to Inoue. Nishida (10-1, 2 KOs) contributed to an absorbing fight that maintained a frenetic pace for six rounds.
Nakatani, who is five feet and eight inches tall, trains in Los Angeles with coach Rudy Hernandez, and has won all five of his bantamweight fights by way of stoppage. He began the fight with a full-on offensive in the first round.
Both boxers exchanged blows from the start, but Nakatani had the advantage in the early rounds, including a powerful left hook and a series of uppercuts in the second round.
Nishida improved in the third and fourth rounds, targeting the body, but his right eye began to swell in the fifth round and by the end of the sixth was completely closed. Nakatani relentlessly attacked Nishida’s inflamed eye with left hooks, connecting more regularly.
The defeat seemed inevitable for Nishida, considering he could only see through one eye, and after an evaluation of the eye injury by the doctor, it was a sensible decision to withdraw him from the fight after the sixth round.
In the same card, Japanese bantamweight Riku Masuda (8-1, 8 KOs) knocked out Michell Banquez, from Venezuela, with a resounding left one-two in the first round.
