There were seven world title fights in the last two days in Tokyo and, appropriately, promoters saved the best for last.
Junto Nakatani, the WBC bantamweight champion who is perhaps boxing's best-kept secret, looked amazing Monday in a one-sided beatdown of veteran Petch Sor Chitpattana at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Nakatani softened Chitpattana up with a blistering right-hand jab that he landed regularly throughout the fight. When it was go time, Nakatani unleased his powerful left.
He dropped Chitpattana (76-2, 53 KOs) twice in the sixth round and referee Laurence Cole waved it off without a count at 2:59 of the sixth to help Nakatani improve to 29-0 with his 22 stoppage.
He is one of the best fighters in the world and one of the best who is not widely known in the U.S.
If he keeps that up, though, he's going to be zooming up the pound-for-pound lists and he'll gain recognition in every corner of the globe.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef, who was ringside, said Nakatani reminded him of the late great Genaro Hernandez, a super featherweight stalwart in the 1990s and a Hall of Fame nominee. Genaro Hernandez is the brother of Nakatani trainer Rudy Hernandez.
"I thought he looked amazing," duBoef said. "I told Rudy the more I watch him, the more he looks like Genaro with power."
It's not going to be long before trainers and promoters are going to be comparing their fighters to Nakatani. Since moving to bantamweight, he's 3-0 with three knockouts, two in the sixth and one in the first. He's effective working off the jab and fighting at range, but he has the killer instinct all the great ones hae, as he showed Monday when he first seriously hurt Chitpattana in the sixth.
Nakatani, 26, was connecting with his jab regularly and landed the occasional hard left, but he stayed on the outside for the most part, creating angles and piling up the rounds. But when he dropped Chitpattana with a left early in the sixth, he immediately closed the distance and showed the kind of finishing ability that could make him a massive star even outside of Japan.
"I have a goal to be No. 1 pound-for-pound in boxing," Nakatani said. "So I'll keep on fighting and keep on delivering exciting fights."
He's moving inexorably toward a showdown with Naoya Inoue, the Japanese superstar who was undisputed at bantamweight and is now the undisputed super bantamweight champion. That likely won't be next, but it's one of the best fights that could be made in boxing.