Too strong! Nakatani Junto successfully defends his title, declares with a stunning TKO win that "my goal is to be number one in the PFP" with a shocking left hand, no career setbacks, sinks twice in the number one ring in his class
"Boxing: WBC World Bantamweight Title Match" (14th, Ariake Arena)
Champion Junto Nakatani (26) of M.T. defeated the number one ranked fighter in his class, Petch Sor Chitpattana (30) of Thailand, by TKO at 2 minutes and 59 seconds in the sixth round, successfully defending his title for the second time.
He started off by landing some good lefts, gradually increasing the pressure, and in the middle of the round, he got into some intense close-quarters action, landing a powerful left in the sixth round, and then rushing in to knock Petch down for the first time in his career. However, he continued to overwhelm him, and just before the end of the round, he landed another powerful left to send him down to the ring. He took down the tough 30-year-old in his 78th fight of his career.
This marks his third consecutive KO victory. In his winner's interview, he reflected, "I hope the crowd is happy. At first I fought a little defensively. My team told me I didn't have to go all out yet, so I studied myself and looked at which punches would land," and proudly stated, "I've knocked down opponents like that before. I was able to fight without feeling nervous."
The bantamweight division is dominated by four Japanese champions. The 26-year-old, who is considered the strongest among them, said, "Well, I feel like whoever the champion is is who's next," and added, "My big goal is to become number one pound-for-pound, so I'd like to show many KOs like today."
◇Junto Nakatani Born January 2, 1998 in Toin-cho, Mie Prefecture. His amateur record is 14 wins and 2 losses in 16 fights. He made his professional debut in April 2015. He won the Japanese flyweight title in 2019, the WBO World flyweight title in 2020, and the WBO World super flyweight title in 2023. His fight against Andrew Moloney (Australia), in which he won the title, was selected as the best KO of the year by The Ring, the most prestigious specialist magazine in the United States. In 2012, he won the WBC World bantamweight title. He was ranked in the top 10 in the Ring magazine's pound-for-pound ranking of the strongest fighters across all weight classes. He is 172 cm tall and has a reach of 170 cm. He is a left-handed boxer.
