Junto Nakatani impressed again with a retirement win at the end of the sixth round against Ryosuke Nishida at Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo.
Nakatani moved a step closer to a blockbuster clash with Naoya Inoue, stopping Ryosuke Nishida as he added the IBF super bantamweight title to his WBC belt.
Nakatani (31-0, KO24) had previously reigned as WBO champion at both flyweight and super flyweight, and picked up the WBC super bantamweight title in February of last year with a sixth-round stoppage of Alexandro Santiago in Japan.
He would defend three times, the last a third-round knockout of David Contreras in February.
Nishida (10-1, KO2) won his world title in only his ninth fight, outscoring the established Emmanuel Rodriguez last May, and he defended in December, knocking out Anuchai Donsua in seven.
Nakatani was loading up from the off, and both were swinging power punches in a round that Nakatani edged with his power.
Nakatani worked his jab more in the second, and landed with big bombs, but Nishida got the better of the third, driving Nakatani backwards in a spell of success.
It was proving a firefight, and by round five, Nishida’s eye was nearly closed shut, and Nakatani kept finding it with his left hand.
The doctor inspected and allowed Nishida to continue, and Nakatani’s power was winning the day as he did plenty of damage in round six.
That was enough for Nishida, as he wasn’t sent out for round seven, crowning Nakatani unified champion.
Remaining Undercard
Talented amateur starlet Tomoya Tsuboi (2-0, KO1) stepped up to ten-round level in only his second professional fight, and he took the vacant WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title by winning widely on the scorecards against Van Thao Tran (18-2, KO10).
Tsuboi won the belt by two scores of 100-90, and a third score of 98-92.
In ten round contests, Tenshin Nasukawa (7-0, KO2) continued his education, as he went the full ten rounds in a points win against Victor Santillan (14-2, KO5), also at bantamweight.
Two scores of 99-91, and a thord at 100-90 reflected Nasukawa’s dominance.
Riku Masuda (8-1, KO8) showed his power yet again, as he needed less than 90 seconds to deal with Michell Banquez (23-6, KO15) at bantamweight.
Two debutants went head-to-head at super flyweight, and Riku Mayashita (1-0, KO0) won on points over four rounds against Toya Oshima (0-1).
In a minimumweight bout, Rukia Okubo (2-1-1, KO2) took victory in the third round of a scheduled four against Takumi Yoneya (0-2).
