Inoue vs Nakatani
📺 Watch on: Lemino / Amazon Prime Video
One of the biggest cards in Japanese boxing history (~55,000 fans); Inoue beat Nakatani by decision to stay undefeated.
Key points
- Two undefeated Japanese stars met in the biggest fight in the country's boxing history
- Inoue won a 12-round unanimous decision to stay 33-0 and keep all four super bantamweight belts
- It was the first professional loss of Junto Nakatani's career
- Roughly 55,000 fans packed the Tokyo Dome
Fight card
- MAIN🏆 Undisputed (WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO)Super Bantamweight
Inoue def. Nakatani — UD 12
- 🏆 WBCBantamweight
T. Inoue def. Ioka — UD 12
- Bantamweight
Takei def. Wang — UD 8
Report
It was billed as the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history, and the Tokyo Dome delivered. Roughly 55,000 fans watched undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue meet unbeaten three-division titleholder Junto Nakatani in an all-Japanese superfight.
Nakatani's height and southpaw left gave Inoue early problems, but "The Monster" adjusted, leaned on his trademark body attack and took over the middle rounds. Inoue won a clear unanimous decision to improve to 33-0 (27 KOs) and retain the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO belts. For Nakatani (32-1), it was the first defeat of his professional career.
The undercard reinforced the bantamweight era's Japanese dominance: Takuma Inoue out-boxed four-division champion Kazuto Ioka to defend the WBC title, and former K-1 star Yoshiki Takei returned to the win column.