Junto Nakatani is gearing up for the first defense of his WBC bantamweight title since winning it earlier this year against Alexandre Santiago. The Japanese star will be facing highly-rated Filipino contender Vincent Astrolabio. Nakatani and Astrolabio will serve as the headliners of a Teiken Promotions show that will be held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on July 28.
Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KO’s) will be looking to continue his blossoming career against a capable contender in Vincent Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KO’s) as he aims to defend his WBC bantamweight title since capturing it in February.
The fight will count as a mandatory bout for both fighters with WBC having designated Astrolabio as the mandatory contender last year at their annual WBC convention.
The 118 lbs battle will be expected to go widely in Nakatani’s favor given his pedigree in the sport, his current status as a three-division champion and his overall ability, but Astrolabio is still very much a deserving contender given his #1 position on the WBC’s bantamweight rankings and his own experience. Astrolabio will further be competing in his second world title match since losing a close-knit fight against Australian contender Jason Moloney (27-3, 19 KO’s) over the vacant WBO bantamweight title last year.
The card will also be complemented by WBO two other world title fights including a super flyweight battle between Japanese WBO champion Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KO’s) and Mexican contender Jonathan Rodriguez (25-2-1, 17 KO’s), and a flyweight fight for the vacant WBO title between Japanese challenger Riku Kano (22-4-2, 11 KO’s) and American former world title challenger Anthony Olascuaga (6-1, 4 KO’s).
Additionally, former Japanese kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa (3-0, 1 KO’s) will return to the ring against a different Jonathan Rodriguez (17-2-1, 7 KO’s). The weight class both will compete in has not yet been clarified, with American contender Rodriguez known to have fought at bantamweight recently while Nasukawa has fought at super bantamweight since becoming a professional in 2023.
