Boxing Results: Junto Nakatani Claims Bantamweight Unification Victory Over Ryosuke Nishida

WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs) made easy work of the light-hitting, little-known IBF 118-lb champion Ryosuke Nishida (10-1, 2 KOs), scoring a sixth-round technical knockout victory on Sunday night at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. Along with the IBF belt, Nakatani captured the Ring Magazine bantamweight strap.

Nishida’s Eye and Shoulder

The official time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of round six. Nakatani was ahead on all three of the judges’ scorecards by the scores 59-55, 58-56, and 58-56.

Initially, Nishida fought well in the first round, landing left hands and holding off the bigger, stronger, more talented Nakatani. However, from the second round, it was all Nakatani, hitting Nishiada with hard left hands to the right side of his face.

By the fifth round, Ryosuke, 28, looked beaten up, right eye closed, and entirely exhausted. His corner would have done him a solid if they’d waved the white flag of surrender because he had no chance of winning. Junto was using him as a punching bag, tagging his already closed right eye with left after left.

At the end of the sixth, Nishida’s corner had the fight stopped due to his right eye having closed up completely. He’d been eating left hands all night from the southpaw Nakatani, and he couldn’t do much to make it a competitive fight because he was outgunned in every department.

The southpaw Nishida had also suffered a right shoulder injury during the fight, forcing him to fight with just his left. Even if he had both hands working, he still couldn’t do much against Nakatani because he was getting hammered with big power shots coming in nonstop from Junto.

Unification Dream Realized

“Ever since flyweight, I’ve really wanted to unify my titles, and finally, at bantamweight, I was able to unify my titles. I’m satisfied right now,” said Nakatani after the fight.

Boxing fans want to see Nakatani move up to super bantamweight now to challenge Naoya Inoue for his titles. However, Junto may choose to stay at 118 to go after the WBA and WBO belts that he needs to become an undisputed champion. Those titles are held by weak belt-holders, who Nakatani would have no problems beating.

The downside is he won’t receive much credit because those two champs are invisible to fans, complete unknowns, and not well thought of by the fans who know who they are. If Nakatani had his head on straight, he’d forget about his quest for validation and move up to super bantamweight to fight Naoya Inoue now before he leaves the 122-lb division to go up to featherweight.

Fear of ‘The Monster’

If Nakatani believes in himself, he’ll scrap his superficial goal of becoming undisputed at bantamweight and move up to 122 to face Inoue. Given that Junto has chosen to stay at 118 and not follow Naoya up in weight, it’s a clear sign that the self-belief just isn’t there. He doesn’t want to get exposed by ‘The Monster.”

If one could transplant a head from some of the brave fighters in the sport and sew it onto Nakatani’s body in a Frankenstein-like experiment, he could potentially accomplish great things. I don’t see it happening. The body is willing, but the mind 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 awful the entire fight. The 118-lb division is one of the weakest in the sport. Nishida captured the IBF belt in 2024, beating veteran Emmanuel Rodriguez by a narrow 12-round decision.