GLASGOW — It's been a busy 2024 for Junto Nakatani. The southpaw, who is a native of Mie Prefecture, has spent the year taking boxing's bantamweight division by storm.
Having already won world titles at flyweight and super flyweight, Nakatani defeated Alexandro Santiago in February to capture the WBC title at 118 pounds. Now a three-division world champion, Nakatani negotiated his first title defense in July, ending the challenge of Vincent Astrolabio inside the first round.
Staying busy, Nakatani was back in action on Monday, October 14 at Tokyo's Ariake Arena. WBC top-ranked bantamweight contender Petch Sor Chitpattana was in the opposite corner. The 30-year-old Chitpattana, who has also boxed under the name Tasana Salapat during his career, hails from Thailand and arrived in Japan with an impressive 76-1 record, 53 of the wins coming by stoppage.
A pro since 2011, Chitpattana was having just his second fight outside of Thailand on Monday. In the other fight he contested away from home he lost a points decision to Takuma Inoue in Tokyo in 2018. Monday's bout would also be Chitpattana's first attempt to win a world title.
Despite his experience, Chitpattana, also a southpaw, was unable to seriously trouble Nakatani. On the night it was Nakatani's superior boxing skills that caught the eye. Chitpattana was aggressive, but in the end Nakatani showcased his counter-punching skills and recorded a stoppage victory in the sixth round.
There was plenty to admire from Nakatani in his latest outing. In winning by boxing off the back foot, he underlined his status as the best bantamweight in the world.
How Junto Nakatani Broke Down the Challenge of Petch Sor Chitpattana
With two southpaws in the ring, the contest began with plenty of jabs being thrown by the right hands of both boxers. During the feeling-out session, as opening rounds of title fights often are, Nakatani landed a flashing left-hand counter when Chitpattana attempted to close the gap between the fighters.
It was a warning of things to come. Chitpattana remained cautious during the next two rounds but he was losing the battle of the jabs. Nakatani consistently demonstrated better mobility than his challenger. This enabled him to be positioned more favorably in order to land his range finder. As a result, Nakatani began following up his jabs with some right hooks as his offense got warmed up.
Nakatani's performance on Monday provided a great example of distance control, timing and using the jab to completely dictate a fight. Chitpattana eventually got fed up of being outclassed by Nakatani's jab ― he began to get aggressive.
Handling An Opponent's Aggression Perfectly
Although he was trying to win the fight the only way he knew how, Chitpattana's aggression led to him being stopped for the first time in his career.
As he started to take the fight to Nakatani, Chitpattana was leaving himself vulnerable to the crisp counters that were coming his way.
In the third round, Nakatani put a stop to several advances from the Thai boxer with crunching jabs. The shots stopped Chitpattana in his tracks and forced him to readjust. In the moments where Chitpattana was slightly slow to move out of range, Nakatani followed up his momentum by halting jabs with some sharp uppercuts with his right hand.
Speaking of uppercuts, would we see Nakatani's signature left uppercut on the night?
As it turned out, Nakatani unloaded overhand lefts in this fight when the opportunities arose. It was his overhand left that ultimately ended the contest.
With Chitpattana realizing he was losing every round, the opportunities for Nakatani to counter increased. The challenger was becoming more and more reckless as he sensed the fight slipping away. And the fight had developed perfectly for Nakatani to deliver a stoppage.
Nakatani's high guard and superior footwork was also serving to frustrate Chitpattana. Countering every attack isn't possible. Sometimes a fighter has to absorb the blows on his gloves or just move out of the way and reset. Nakatani demonstrated these skills at times on Monday night, too.
Pivotal Moments for Junto Nakatani
As the contest entered its sixth round, Nakatani made a significant breakthrough. A powerful left counter buzzed Chitpattana and Nakatani followed up with several blows that put his foe onto the canvas.
Chitpattana was able to rise and resume. Despite knowing he had his man where he wanted him, Nakatani showed patience. He maintained his calculated approach, looking calm and confident.
With the clock ticking down toward the final seconds of Round 6, Nakatani landed another huge overhand left counter. Chitpattana went to the ground immediately and referee Laurence Cole waved the contest off. It was an appropriate ending to what had been a dominant performance by Nakatani.
Junto Nakatani Being Seen Overseas
Along with staying busy and knocking out opponents, gaining global exposure is the best way for a boxer to become a household name with fans around the planet.
Nakatani, keeping up his end of the bargain for the first two parts of the equation, is now becoming a can't-miss attraction for followers of boxing. Monday's win was Nakatani's 10th by stoppage in his last 12th contests. Along with this being his third fight of 2024, Nakatani has boxed six times in the last 23 months ― by modern boxing standards he is maintaining a heavy workload.
This is positive as now his contests are being broadcast by ESPN+ in the United States and Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. With these two major broadcasters showing Nakatani in their respective large markets the interest in Nakatani is increasing all the time in overseas territories.
When Nakatani next boxes, broadcasters in even more countries will be lining up to show the action live. Momentum is building.
Post-Fight Quotes
After improving his record to 29-0 with 22 knockouts, Nakatani kept his comments brief during the in-ring interview that was translated into English and broadcast on the world feed.
"This is my third knockout since the bantamweight title shot. I hope people are happy about it," Nakatani said in reference to his perfect KO percentage in the 118-pound division.
Nakatani also referenced his strategy of allowing Chitpattana to attack him: "I knew my opponent was aggressive, so I slowed down and watched for him coming into me."
When asked who he would like to fight next, Nakatani didn't mention any specific names. "Anyone with a championship belt, I'm ready to fight," was the WBC champion's simple answer.
What's Next For Junto Nakatani?
Anyone with a championship belt has to be next for Nakatani. He has shown there is a dramatic gulf between himself and the boxers the WBC have ranked to challenge him, so now, assuming he is staying at bantamweight for one or two more contests, it is time for unification bouts.
Will the other 118-pound title holders be able to put up more of a challenge? That remains to be seen but certainly any of WBO champion Yoshiki Takei (10-0, eight KOs), IBF titlist Ryosuke Nishida (9-0, one KO) or new WBA belt holder Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0, eight KOs) would make for interesting opposition for Nakatani.
Of course the fight that has everyone in boxing excited is Nakatani moving up to super bantamweight to challenge undisputed champion Naoya Inoue. The realistic timeframe for that is the end of 2025, so for now Nakatani would be best served sharpening his skills against the other bantamweight champions.
Ranked number nine by The Ring magazine in its current pound-for-pound list, Nakatani's showing on Monday will do him no harm in this regard. He competently turned away his mandatory challenger, showing patience, composure and an ability to diffuse a combative foe in convincing fashion.
Nakatani's status as the man to beat at bantamweight has been further enhanced. His future is very bright. His upcoming fights will be of high interest to boxing fans in all parts of the world.
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Author: Colin Morrison
Morrison is a freelance sportswriter. Find his stories on SportsLook. Writing since 2016, his byline currently appears on FightsATW.com where he covers boxing. Morrison has previously written for NYFights.com and spitballingpod.com. His main areas of interest are boxing, soccer, golf and rugby union. Morrison is from Scotland and can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @Morrie1981.
