Junto Nakatani Is A Nightmare For the Bantamweight Division

There is now no doubt that Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs) is ready for the biggest stage as he broke down and stopped Alexandro Santiago (28-4-5, 14 KOs) to become the WBC bantamweight champion, which also marks his third title in three different divisions. The 26-year-old Japanese fighter is moving up weight classes and putting on a boxing clinic each time. On Saturday, Nakatani stopped Santiago in six rounds, making him a nightmare for the rest of the division.

Nakatani is a well-oiled south paw machine who uses great footwork, feints, angles, and combinations to dominate his opponents. With his 67” reach, Nakatani dictates the momentum of the fight with that long right jab, which comes from a distance that doesn’t allow for something to come back in time for him not to react. In this fight, Nakatani did just that as the right jab was in Santiago’s face, along with the 1-2 combination that was followed with a right hook.

When the 1-2 to the head wasn’t there, that second punch would end up on the right rib cage area of Santiago, which sucked the breath out of him. Finally, a straight left down the middle in the sixth round sent Santiago tumbling down for the fight’s first knockdown. Once he got up, Santiago was met with a flurry of punches, including a right hook that sent him crashing down once again, but this time, his corner saw enough and stopped the fight in the sixth round.

Who are the big names out there for Junto Nakatani?

Although there will likely be a mandatory challenger for Nakatani next, there is no question he is ready to get after some of the other titles in the division. There are big fights with Jason Moloney (WBO Champion) & Emmanuel Rodriguez (IBF Champion) that are on the horizon or a big all-Japan event against Takuma Inoue (WBA Champion). There are also super fights with guys like Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, but those wouldn’t be good matchups for them at this stage of their careers. One name that would be interesting is a fight against Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, which would certainly have the attention of the hardcore fans.

Only time will tell which route Nakatani takes, but he has shown an exciting boxing style, which makes for great viewership. Fans love watching dominant fighters who get knockouts, and Nakatani always brings that style.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

See author's posts