Junto Nakatani’s Predictable Style Makes Him an Easy Target for Naoya Inoue

WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (30-0, 23 KOs) is already looking past his unification fight against IBF champ Ryosuke Nishida (10-0, 2 KOs) scheduled for June 8th on ESPN+, talking about a clash against Naoya Inoue at 122. Junto says he has to knock out Inoue for him to be victorious.

Lack of Elite Experience

He’s worried that if he drops Naoya, he’ll get back up and keep fighting hard. That would be bad for Nakatani because he must deal with Inoue’s power, combination punching, and defensive ability. Junto has much more to worry about than Inoue getting back up. He’s too flawed with his fighting style to have a chance of beating Inoue. That’s the real problem that Nakatani fails to see. I don’t know that he can change that. He’s not limber, and his motions are slow compared to Inoue’s.

Few people are giving Nakatani much chance against Inoue because he’s slow, robotic, and has a mechanical style that would be easy for Inoue to pick apart piece by piece. Junto has got to change the way he fights to become more fluid to defeat Inoue, because he has an easy time with this Tin Man style.

Nakatani doesn’t have the experience to fight someone like Naoya Inoue. For some reason, his promoters have kept him sheltered and not put him in with the kind of A-grade fighters he needs to be ready for ‘Monster’ Inoue.

Nakatani’s last three weak opponents, David Cuellar, Petch Sor Chitpattana, and Vincent Astrolabi, are examples of how his promoters have matched him. To be prepared for a fighter like Inoue, Nakatani should fight guys like Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, Marlon Tapales, and Ramon Cardenas in that order.

Without Nakatani fighting those kinds of fighters, it’s impossible to take him seriously as having a chance against Naoya. He’s a good talker, but hasn’t shown the gumption to take on the talents. He should move up to 122 and take on the top contenders to better prepare himself for Inoue. After three or four fights, Nakatani might have improved enough to have a shot at winning. By then, ‘The Monster’ will have aged a little more and been softened up.

Nakatani, 27, is in the pipeline to face ‘The Monster’ Inoue next year, provided he defeats Nishida. Undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue has to win his next fight in September against WBA interim champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

“He has the experience from getting knocked down and getting back up and winning a fight,” Nakatani said to Ring Magazine. “That’s a credit to him. If I knock him down, I have to make sure that he doesn’t get back up.”