The second night of the two-day event organized by Teiken Promotions saw Japanese WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani headline against Thai challenger Tasana Salapat (also known as Petch CP Freshmart) on Monday, October 14, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, retaining his title in the process as he stopped his opponent within 6 rounds.
Junto Nakatani Vs. Tasana Salapat
Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22 KO’s) presided over an expected yet eyecatching win over Thai challenger Tasana Salapat/Petch CP Freshmart/Petch Sor Chitpattana (76-2, 53 KO’s). Nakatani defended his WBC bantamweight (118 lbs) title for the second time since acquiring it in February, closing the two-day spectacle with a stupendous stoppage victory.
Unlike many of Nakatani’s previous opponents, Freshmart started off well on the front foot in an attempt to pressure Nakatani, whose defensive fundamentals were appropriately challenged. However, Nakatani was absolutely lethal with the counter as Freshmart attempted to press him.
The rounds that followed were therefore heavily in Nakatani’s favor who through a combination of a tight defense and scintillitating offense slowly broke Freshmart down over the course of 6 rounds. By the 6th round, Freshmart found himself urgently retreating as Nakatani’s attacks over the past couple of rounds clearly did more damage than was visibly showed.
The match was stopped in the closing seconds after a devastating one-two combination floored Freshmart. Freshmart, clearly damaged, struggled to get up and the referee waved the match off, allowing Junto Nakatani to retain his WBO title by technical knockout (TKO).
Undercard Results:
In the super flyweight (115 lbs) division, an upset took place as Japanese WBO champion Kosei Tanaka (20-2, 11 KO’s) found himself suffering a hard-fought loss to South African challenger Phumelele Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KO’s).
The two were engaged in an extremely close battle that could have gone either way, but it was Cafu who would grab the victory through a narrow split-decision (SD) victory that now makes him the WBO 115 lbs champion.
The significant junior flyweight (108 lbs) bout between American WBO champion Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KO’s) and Puerto Rican contender Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KO’s) was stopped early in the 1st round after Olascuaga found himself injured on his right eye, which forced the match to be cancelled. As a fight only officially counts on the scorecards after the 4th round, their match was ruled a no-contest.
A rematch is expected to be arranged in short order in lieu of the no-contest result.
Japanese former kickboxing star, Tenshin Nasukawa (5-0, 2 KO’s), continued on his journey for a world title as he fought at bantamweight and faced Filipino contender Gerwin Asilo (9-1, 4 KO’s). Nasukawa passed his test with flying colors, coursing through the 10-scheduled rounds to claim an easy and dominant victory by unanimous decision (UD)―culminating in him winning the WBO Asia-Pacific title; the first boxing title of his career.
