Junto Nakatani Punches His Ticket To A Future ‘Monster’s Ball’

It was an early Monday morning for fans in the US as ESPN+ streamed live from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Coming into fight night, then-undefeated David Cuellar was looking to make a name for himself and earn the WBC title but that thought would not come to fruition as Nakatani is reaching his physical prime.

Right from the start, Nakatani showed off why he is such a dangerous fighter at 118 pounds. Nakatani stands at 5’8” with a 68 ½ inch reach, which is a nightmare for his division, and he uses every bit of that to his advantage, as seen throughout the first round. Nakatani kept his distance just outside of mid-range with a good right jab and an overhand left that hits hard because of how he turns his knuckles. This technique is drilled into Nakatani by his trainer Rudy Hernandez throughout his training camp in Southern California.

In the second round, you saw more of that from Nakatani, but there were moments when he did not bring his hands back quick enough and was met with a left hook and straight right hand from Cuellar. This forced Nakatani to reset and temporarily mute his offense. Between the second and third rounds, Nakatani’s trainer, Hernandez, told him that Cuellar was telegraphing his punches and that instead of throwing wide shots, he should compress the angle more on his punches.

Nakatani did just that, and in the third round, he went down to the body when Cuellar threw a punch and a flurry after sending Cuellar down for the fight’s first knockdown with less than 30 seconds remaining in the round. Cuellar beat the count, but Nakatani rushed him and threw a left hook that sent Cuellar down again. However, this time, he would not beat the count, forcing the referee to waive off the fight. Nakatani scores a third-round knockout, but more importantly, he adds fuel to the ever-growing discussions of a super fight with Inoue.

A Storm Is Coming

If you don’t think Inoue has had his eye on Nakatani, then you are sadly mistaken. It’s a fight that he has seen from a distance that could happen, and instead of waiting to prepare for it, Inoue has used his last three fights to give him the looks he needs in case that fight was to come together. Inoue’s last three opponents were southpaws, who could move and box well. Although Inoue, when asked about a fight with Nakatani, said maybe in another year or so, we may be looking at a fight between the two Japanese world champions a lot sooner than that: perhaps even later this year.

The one thing Nakatani has been able to do, which has helped with his development, is to stay busy throughout the year. In 2024, he gloved up three times, and if his second fight can be a unification and the third against Inoue, he could be in line to become Fighter of the Year if successful. But before we get ahead of ourselves, the fight has to get done, so for now, we can only fantasize about that matchup.

Inoue has become the Canelo Alvarez of the smaller weight classes in which a fight against him is the lottery ticket. According to Inoue, he doesn’t have that many fights left before hanging up the gloves, and if that truly is the case, then before he does, we need to see the Nakatani fight in Japan at the Tokyo Dome (not in Riyadh). That super fight deserves that type of energy, and as far as the fight itself, it would be the clash of two styles that mesh well and would make for a tremendous all-Japanese showdown.