Japanese WBC bantamweight (118 lbs) champion Junto Nakatani (30-0, 23 KO’s) has catapulted himself to being the best 118-pounder in the world after knocking out Mexican opponent David Cuellar Contreras (28-1, 18 KO’s) to retain his WBC belt for the 3rd time in just one calendar year. The two headlined a Teiken Promotions card on Monday, February 24th, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Coincidentally fighting on the same date as when he had won his WBC title a year ago, Junto Nakatani proved to be too overwhelming of opposition for David Cuellar to overcome.
Cuellar’s front-foot approach backfired heavily against Nakatani whose power has allowed to stop or knock out every single opponent since he debuted at 118 pounds. Proving to be an open target for Nakatani with his style, Cuellar did not have sufficient defensive fundamentals to halt Nakatani.
This was made more obvious by how Cuellar’s usually aggressive style proved to be a complete mismatch against the even more aggressive and more skilled Nakatani. Early on, Cuellar sought to establish his foothold in the ring by wading forward but soon discovered this was a bad plan as Nakatani quickly established a rapid pace that involved relentless pressure as well as solid counterattacking.
While the 1st round was tame, with the two fighters not going all out yet, the 2nd round saw Nakatani firmly assert his ability as he continued to break Cuellar down, primarily aiming at the head and body to confuddle the Mexican fighter.
By the 3rd round, David Cuellar was already appearing to lose on the scorecards and his woes would only further widen as Junto Nakatani maintained the controlled pressure he has been known for throughout the past couple of years. Proving too much of an unstoppable force, Cuellar was knocked down by the Japanese champion in the closing 30 seconds of the fight with a left hand to the head.
Bravely, David Cuellar beat the countdown of 10 by the referee before resuming the fight but seconds later was dropped again by an onslaught of punches from Junto Nakatani. Cuellar tried to get up in time to beat the count of 10 again but proved too slow and debilitated, forcing the referee to wave the fight off.
Junto Nakatani was announced the winner by knockout (KO) in the 3rd round afterwards and continues to trailblaze his way to becoming a mainstay in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Despite his performance, plenty of challenges still lie in wait for the Japanese fighter as a unification fight at bantamweight, or perhaps a move up to super bantamweight (122 lbs) potentially face undisputed champion Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KO’s), seems long overdue.
Undercard Fights:
- At bantamweight, Japanese WBA champion Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-3, 8 KO’s) defended his title against countryman Daigo Higa (21-3-2, 19 KO’s) ― who just narrowly missed out on becoming a world champion during his last fight ― fought to a split-decision draw with all three judges scoring the fight 114-114.
The fight was extremely difficult to call yet highly entertaining with Tsutsumi with the fight making it on the potential list of becoming “Fight of the Year” with at least 3 knockdowns ensuing between the fighters. The first came in the 7th round and saw Higa hit the canvas following a crunching right hand from Tsutsumi amidst an exchange. Tsutsumi, who had been dealing with a gruesome cut he suffered in the 4th round, had been only narrowly ahead then.
In the 9th round, both fighters were knocked down with Higa the first to land a left hand to drop Tsutsumi around the half portion of the fight. In the closing half minute, however, it would be Tsutsumi who would daze Higa heavily with an uppercut that dropped him.
Both fighters had plenty of notable moments that made it hard to point out a clear winner, though Tsutsumi did well to attempt to close out as the potential winner in the last round with his relentless pressure, despite suffering from a cut and fatigue.
WBA bantamweight champion Seiya Tsutsumi retained his title after a narrow split-decision draw against Japanese rival Daigo Higa. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
However, both fighters would have to make due with a split-decision (SD) draw after the judges all scored it an even-steven 114-114. Tsutsumi retained his WBA bantamweight title as a result of the draw, but the decision was an extremely close call that should warrant an immediate rematch between the two. - Japanese former kickboxing star and current super bantamweight contender Tenshin Nasukawa (6-0, 2 KO’s) continued his progress towards viable world title contention following a win over Australian former WBO bantamweight world champion Jason Moloney (27-4, 19 KO’s).
Participating in a step-up fight against a former world titleholder, Nasukawa passed the eye test as he carved out a hard-won but well-earned unanimous decision (UD) win over the Australian fighter. It was a challenging contest for both with just 2 or 3 rounds separating them, but Nasukawa, the younger fighter at 26 as opposed to Moloney’s 34 years of age, came in better conditioned and was the more active fighter, allowing him to win through the judges’ scores of 97-93, twice, and 98-92.
