WBC Bantamweight Champion Junto Nakatani (31-0, 24 CO’s) has made easy work of the light, little well-known IBF 118-LB champion Ryosuke Nishida (10-1, 2 COs), which achieved a sixth round technical knockout victory on Sunday night in the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. Along with the IBF belt, Nakatani captured the Bantamweight band of the Ring Magazine.
Nishida’s eye and shoulder
The official time of the downtime was at 3:00 of round six. Nakatani was by the scores before all three judges’ scorecards 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56.
Initially, Nishida fought well in the first round, landed left and the larger, stronger, more talented Nakatani. From the second round, however, it was all Nakatani, who hit Nishiada with hard left hands on the right side of his face.
By the fifth round, Ryosuke, 28, beat, closed right eye and completely exhausted. His angle would have done him a solid if they would blow the white flag of surrender because he had no chance to win. Junto uses him as a punch bag and notes his already closed right eye to the left.
At the end of sixth place, the corner of Nishida stopped the fight because of his right eye after he closed completely. He ate all night of the Southpaw Nakatani all night, and he couldn’t do much to make it a competitive battle because he was surpassed in every section.
The Southpaw Nishida also suffered a right shoulder injury during the fight, which forced him to fight with just his left. Even though he made both hands work, he still couldn’t do much against Nakatani, because he hammered with big power shots coming from Junto.
Unification Dream realizes
‘Since flyweight, I really wanted to unite my titles, and finally, at Bantamweight, I was able to unite my titles. I’m satisfied now, ‘Nakatani said after the fight.
Boxing fans want to see Nakatani move to Super Bantamweight now to challenge Naoya inoue for his titles. However, Junto can choose to stay at 118 to go to the WBA and WBO belts that he should become an undisputed champion. Those titles are held by poor belt containers, which Nakatani would have no trouble beating.
The disadvantage is that he will not receive much credit, because the two champions are invisible to fans, perfectly unknowns and not well by the supporters who know who they are. If Nakatani had his head upright, he would forget about his search for validation and go up to Super Bantamweight to fight Naya Inoue now before leaving the 122 pound division to go to featherweight.
Fear of ‘the monster’
If Nakatani believes in himself, he will abolish his superficial goal of being undisputed at Bantamweight and going to 122 to inoue. Since Junto chose to stay at 118 and not follow Naoya in weight, it is a clear sign that the self -belief is just not there. He does not want to be exposed by ‘the monster’.
If one can transplant a head of some of the brave fighters in the sport and sew it on Nakatani’s body in a Frankenstein-like experiment, he can potentially achieve great things. I don’t see that happening. The body is willing, but the spirit is weak.
Nishida’s IBF title questioned
What I want to know is how on earth Nishida ever won the IBF title in the first place, because he looked the whole struggle. The 118 pound division is one of the worst in the sport. Nishida captured the IBF belt in 2024 and beat veteran Emmanuel Rodriguez by a narrow 12-round decision.
Last updated on 06/08/2025
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