A world title triple-header is on the menu at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan this Monday, and in the headliner, Junto Nakatani defends his WBC bantamweight title for a second time against Thailand’s Tasana Salapat.
Top Rank promote Nakatani vs Salapat, and Sky Sports televise in the UK.
Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) took the vacant WBO flyweight title in November 2020, knocking out Giemel Magramo in eight rounds, and he ventured outside of Japan for the first time for his first defence, a fourth round stoppage of Angel Acosta ten months later in Tucson.
After a win at super flyweight, he then took the vacant WBO super flyweight crown in a dominant last round knockout of Andrew Moloney, with the Aussie over three times in a brutal bout.
After that landslide first defence, he moved up again, this tome taking the WBC bantamweight tile by overwhelming Alexandro Santiago for a sixth round success. Nakatani was last out in July, needing under a round to knock out Vincent Astrolabio.
Junto Nakatani with a KO of the Year contender đł
đĽ @trboxing pic.twitter.com/YLfQgdXnkY
â DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 21, 2023
He now faces Salapat (76-1, 53 KOs), a man with a record where all is not it seems. The 30-year-old from Roi-Et challenged for world honours back in December 2018, but was soundly beaten on the cards by Takuma Inoue in a bid for the WBC Interim super bantamweight title.
He has won 28 straight fights since, but against a horrendous list of opponents, most with losing records or fighting on debut. His last fight saw him defend his WBC Asian belt for a fourth time, as he took a ten round points win over the 6-5-1 GuiMing Li in Rangsit in July.
Prediction: Nakatani looks a real force, and I can’t see him slipping up here. His heavy hands can break the Thai down for a late stoppage win.
Tanaka defends title against Cafu
Kosei Tanaka won the vacant WBO super flyweight title in his last fight, and he makes a maiden defence against Phumelele Cafu.
Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) won the belt in February, taking a clear points win against Christian Rangel, and has previously reigned as WBO champion from minimumweight right through to super flyweight.
After three early career draws, Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KOs) is on a run of six straight wins, and the South African claimed the IBF International strap last August, and then knocked out Enathi Stelle in just 26 seconds in his last contest in December 2023 to take the vacant South African bauble.
Prediction: Tanaka is a real high-energy fighter, and Cafu shouldn’t cause too many problems for him in this one. The champion can retain with a stoppage win around halfway.
The WBO flyweight title is also at stake here, with the champion, Anthony Olascuaga defending against Jonathan Gonzalez.
Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs) claimed the vacant title in July, knocking Riku Kano out in three rounds, after being halted in nine by Kenshiro Teraji for the WBC light flyweight crown last April.
Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs) steps up from light flyweight, where he made three defences of the WBO title, the last a points win against Rene Santiago in his native Puerto Rico in March.
COMEBACK CITY đď¸
Anthony Olascuaga snags the KO with milliseconds left in the round!#TerajiBudler | @ESPNPlus | @PrimeVideo in Japan pic.twitter.com/CwY5SHllIR
â Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) September 18, 2023
Prediction: Olacscuaga will need to be on his mettle here, and he may need the distance to get his hand raised for a successful first title defence.
Remaining Undercard
Elsewhere, Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KOs) can take the vacant WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title with a points win against Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KOs), and super lightweight hope Ayato Kobayashi (1-0, 0 KOs) can outscore Excell James Junior (2-1, 0 KOs) over four rounds.
