Nakatani stops Nishida in 6th round of slugfest to unify 118 titles
Then reiterates desire to fight superstar countryman Naoya Inoue
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Junto Nakatani has won world titles in three weight classes — flyweight, junior bantamweight and bantamweight — but had not yet gotten the opportunity to unify belts, which was something he badly wanted. When he finally did get that chance he made the most of it on Sunday.
Nakatani retained the WBC bantamweight title and won the IBF belt as he beat down fellow southpaw Ryosuke Nishida, whose right eye was swollen closed and caused the bout to be stopped in his corner after the sixth round in the main event of the Teiken Promotions card on ESPN+ at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.
The fight was only the fourth all-Japanese unification fight in history and it was an action-packed battle until Nishida’s eye was gruesomely swollen, leaving him unable to see incoming punches.
“Ever since I was at flyweight, I really wanted to unify the titles,” Nakatani said through an interpreter. “Finally, at bantamweight, I was able to unify my title and I am satisfied right now.”