Notebook: Nakatani defense tops bantamweight tripleheader

Pradabsri claims WBC junior flyweight title via controversial decision; Seconds Out appearance; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell

Dan Rafael

Dec 27, 2024

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Get holiday subscription discount

Give a gift subscription

Subscribe to the podcast

Follow me on Bluesky

The holiday subscription sale ends soon! Get the deal and also support independent journalism.

Get holiday subscription discount

Give a gift subscription

Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs), 26, a Japanese southpaw, who has also won flyweight and junior bantamweight world titles, will be making his third bantamweight defense. He moved up to 118 pounds and knocked out Alexandro Santiago in the sixth round in February to take his WBC title. In his first defense, he knocked out Vincent Astrolabio with a body shot in the first round in July and then stopped Thai southpaw Petch Sor Chitpattana in the sixth round in October.

Cuellar (28-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Mexico, will fight outside of his home country for the first time and will take an enormous step up in competition. His biggest win was an eighth-round knockout of long-faded former flyweight and junior bantamweight titlist Luis Concepcion in October 2023.

Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8 KOs), 29, will make his first title defense against Japanese countryman Higa (21-3-1, 19 KOs), 29, a former WBC flyweight titlist. Tsutsumi won the title in upset fashion as he outpointed Takuma Inoue — Naoya’s younger brother — in October.

Tsutsumi and Higa fought to a 10-round majority draw in October 2020 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Higa held the WBC flyweight title from 2017 to 2018 and made two successful defenses. He is coming off a close decision loss challenging WBO bantamweight titlist Yoshiki Takei in September.

Nasukawa (5-0, 2 KOs), 26, a Japanese southpaw, will take on the most notable opponent of his boxing career in Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs), 33, of Australia, who is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Takei in Tokyo that cost him his world title this past May.

Pradabsri wins 108 belt

Panya Pradabsri (44-2, 27 KOs), 33, of Thailand, won a controversial majority decision over Carlos Canizales (27-3-1, 19 KOs), 31, of Venezuela, to claim the vacant WBC junior flyweight title on Thursday at Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, where even Pradabsri’s hometown fans booed the highly questionable result.

Pradabsri, a former WBC strawweight titlist, was awarded scores of 116-112 and 115-113 while one judge had it 114-114 as he won the 108-pound title vacated by Kenshiro Teraji, who moved up to flyweight and won a world title.

Canizales, a former WBA “regular” junior flyweight titlist, seemed to get the better of the action, especially late in the fight when he was walking Pradabsri down and taking it to him.

According to CompuBox, Pradabsri landed 159 of 844 punches (19 percent) and Canizales landed 265 of 1,021 (26 percent). Canizales outlanded Pradabsri by 106 punches and outlanded him 10 of the 12 rounds with one of them even on connects.

Canizales looked shocked when the scores were read and even WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, posting to social media, was dismayed by the scoring.

“After a sensational close fight Pradabsri is awarded a majority decision in Thailand,” Sulaiman wrote. “Canizales is a warrior who fought his heart out. I am disappointed at the performance of the WBC Judges in specific rounds and I will order an immediate review by the corresponding committee. WBC ring officials are accountable for their performance.”

Seconds Out appearance

I joined my friends at Seconds Out on their YouTube channel for some thoughts on the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch: the fight, the decision, their futures, and more! Please check out the video here:

BetUS Boxing Show

If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the final world title fight of the year: the rematch between WBA junior bantamweight titlist Fernando Martinez and Kazuto Ioka, who on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo — five months after they put on an action-packed fight of the year contender. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:

Quick hits

Golden Boy will kick off its 2025 schedule with a “Fight Night” card on Jan. 23 (DAZN) at the Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California. Middleweight prospect Eric Priest (14-0, 8 KOs), 26, of Kansas City, Kansas, will headline against Tyler Howard (20-2, 11 KOs), 30, of Crossville, Tennessee, in a 10-rounder. Howard is coming off a 10-round decision loss to 2020 U.S. Olympian Troy Isley in November. Priest is pumped up for his first main event. “Headlining under the Golden Boy banner has been a goal since we signed,” Priest said. “I was born to do this, and I will make the most of this opportunity. I’m ready to kick off 2025 with an explosive performance.”

WBO women’s junior bantamweight titlist Mizuki Hiruta (6-0, 2 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Japan, who is trained by Manny Robles, will make her third defense — and her United States debut — against Maribel Ramirez (15-10-4, 3 KOs), 38, of Mexico, in the co-feature of the “Hollywood Fight Night” card on Jan. 17 (UFC Fight Pass) at the Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California, Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions announced. “She has a true all-action, entertaining fighting style combined with a showbiz flair for her ring walks that our fans will truly appreciate,” Loeffler said of Mizuki. “We expect a huge turnout of local Japanese boxing fans to support Mizuki.”

Show and tell

It was one of the biggest cards of the year as Riyadh Season put on its first event at London’s Wembley Stadium, where an announced crowd of 98,128 — a British boxing record — turned out and saw a huge knockout in a giant upset in the main event. That is when Daniel Dubois retained the IBF heavyweight title for the first time in a shockingly one-sided and tremendously dominant performance against heavy favorite and fellow Brit Anthony Joshua, the two-time unified titleholder, who was bidding to win a heavyweight world title for the third time. But Dubois dropped AJ four times, in the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds with the final one drilling him for the count on a massive right hand flush on the chin.

Among other fights on the card, Hamzah Sheeraz blew away Tyler Denny in the second round to win the European middleweight title; light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi scored two knockdowns in a grueling split decision over Willy Hutchinson to claim the vacant WBO interim title; and IBF junior lightweight titlist Anthony Cacace won a convincing decision over Josh Warrington in a nontitle fight. The show took place on Sept. 21 and I now have a program in my collection.

A note to subscribers

I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.

I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 24 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.

Fight Freaks Unite