Some fights, some match ups, they appear inevitable. A few of these inevitable, they-simply-have-to-happen fights, take time to develop, to construct, to “marinate,” as Corridor of Fame promoter Bob Arum would possibly say. Proper now, when it comes to the little guys, the little giants of the game, one seemingly inevitable struggle, a struggle that could possibly be, actually it actually needs to be, described as a real-life Dream Struggle, tops all others so far as fan fascination goes.
An all-Japanese battle between undefeated pound-for-pound stars/multi-weight world title winners, Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani. Not like a talked of however fairly unrealistic (for now not less than) Inoue-Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez showdown (“Bam” telling us he wants time to totally develop, not solely into the 115 pound division, however then the 118, after which the 122 pound division the place “The Monster” resides) – Inoue towards Nakatani is unquestionably sensible.
And who on earth wouldn’t need to see this one? Who on earth wins if/when these two excellent, seemingly all however flawless preventing machines collide inside a shortly sold-out, cavernous stadium in Tokyo, Japan subsequent 12 months? Think about the sheer degree of talent, of ring IQ, of assorted deadly weaponry on show from either side on this collision!
Nakatani, who’s as proficient as Inoue is with regards to taking a foe down, both with a shot to the pinnacle or to the physique, scored a body-freeze KO over Vincent Astrolabio yesterday, this a struggle the 28-0(21) southpaw mentioned he felt would have been a “lengthy struggle.” As an alternative, Nakatani, aged 26 and but to succeed in his peak, took his WBC bantamweight title challenger out with one excruciatingly positioned straight left hand to the physique.
And Nakatani says he needs that struggle with Inoue, that and all the opposite belts at 118 kilos.
“I wish to unify the titles or transfer as much as [122 pounds] to win the championship there,” Nakatani mentioned after despatching Astrolabio in double-quick trend. “The struggle with Inoue is the one I actually need. Lots of people are actually anticipating this struggle. I’ll proceed to get stronger and will likely be prepared for this struggle.”
Nakatani is 100% proper when he says lots of people need and predict the struggle between he and his famous person countryman to occur. Inoue, at age 31, might have reached his peak, and he has seemed sensational, maybe even higher than ever, since shifting as much as 122 to assert all 4 belts there, with Inoue, 27-0(24) being a four-weight world champion to Nakatani’s three divisions conquered.
Now set to care for one or two obligatory defences, Inoue, in idea, will likely be free to face Nakatani a while subsequent 12 months, possibly the primary half of 2025, possibly the second half. So long as each males proceed to stay unbeaten, and as long as Inoue and Nakatani proceed preventing shut collectively when it comes to weight (Inoue did simply say he plans to remain at 122 for 2 extra years, so he is not going to transfer up too far in weight, thus making the Nakatani struggle much less doable) – this struggle will likely be seen as inevitable.
It has to occur, not less than as soon as. Who is aware of, possibly we might get a very thrilling trilogy right here.
