Nakatani drills Cuellar in 3rd round, retains WBC bantamweight title
Unification bout vs. Nishida likely next; Nasukawa passes tough test from Moloney; Tsutsumi keeps WBA 118 belt in all-action draw vs. Higa
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Junto Nakatani continued to storm his way through the bantamweight division with a third-round knockout of David Cuellar to retain the WBC title on Monday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
Nakatani defended the 118-pound title for the third time in the main event of a Teiken Promotions card that streamed on ESPN+ in the United States. The three-division titleholder has knocked out all four of his bantamweight opponents inside six rounds since vacating his junior bantamweight title and entering the division last February.
When he was done blowing away Cuellar, Nakatani called for a title unification fight and was joined in the ring by Japanese countryman and IBF titleholder Ryosuke Nishida, who likely will be his next opponent.