J unto Nakatani experienced the first setback of his professional boxing career this year. In the mega- event dubbed “The Day,” he lost to Naoya Inoue, the undisputed 122-pound champion, by unanimous decision. “The Monster” Inoue controlled the fight for much of the night, and in the 11th round, Nakatani suffered a serious orbital fracture after taking a right uppercut. Still, the 28-year-old “Big Bang,” who has already won world titles in three weight classes, remains highly regarded in the boxing world. In a top-level battle of skills, he held his own. The moment in the eighth round when the two fighters smiled at each other during the action became one of the most symbolic scenes of the fight. “In the eighth round, I
that day. I had practiced karate before that, but I wasn’t that serious, to be honest. I only went to the karate dojo about once a week. I was much smaller than the other kids, so I lost match after match. “In karate, you don’t wear a pair of gloves. You wear something more like protective padding. When I first slipped my hands into a pair of boxing gloves, I felt so good, and I also liked the sound of my punches hitting the heavy bag. In karate, you throw punches with your hands almost bare, so you don’t really get that satisfying sound. But when I put on boxing gloves and hit the heavy bag, the sound was so good. “What I did that day was pad work, heavy bag and shadowboxing. I didn’t do any sparring, but I pretty much did everything else, and Chairman Ishii himself came out to watch my training. “I really didn’t win any
My First Time: Junto Nakatani As told to Daisuke Sugiura
was thinking like, ‘Man, I’m not landing a thing,’” said Nakatani with a laugh. “Before the fight, I’d studied him inside and out, built up my game plan and stepped into the ring ready for it – but still, there were so many moments when my punches just whistled through empty air. In the heat of the moment, I’d react and actually enjoy those ‘not landing’ instances. It was such a rare experience, so I had a blast with it.” On the big stage, Nakatani
of my karate matches, and I didn’t train that hard, so my parents were concerned that I might end up quitting halfway. But I immediately fell in love with boxing. It was so much fun, made me feel good. I got permission from my parents to quit karate and take up boxing instead. That’s how I started boxing in my first year of junior high school. From then on, I went to the gym every day without missing a day. I really enjoyed boxing, and the rest is history.”
once again proved he’s an elite fighter by going 12 rounds with the highly respected Monster. Because of that, the southpaw is still ranked No. 8 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings. “Inoue showed me the benchmark I need to reach,” Nakatani says. “I could see a lot of aspects of my game that I still need to work on. I feel like it would be a waste not to use this experience to grow, and I still feel like I can improve a lot. I’d like to show an even better performance, and that’s my motivation now.” The humble and quiet sniper has set his sights on becoming the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and will keep moving forward. With that lofty goal still ahead, Nakatani can look back on a career that has already seen many mileposts. Here’s what he had to say about some of the “firsts” in his journey. THE FIRST TIME I LACED UP GLOVES “I do remember the day I first put on boxing gloves. I was 11 or 12 years old, a sixth-grade student. I went to a local gym in Mie Prefecture, where Mr. Kozo Ishii served as chairman, for a one-day trial lesson. Chairman Ishii was a former 122-pound Japanese professional boxer who challenged world titleholders such as Nestor Garza and Oscar Larios during his career, and he oversaw my workout
MY FIRST AMATEUR FIGHT “My first fight as an amateur was in the National U-15 Junior Boxing Tournament. It’s a big stage for young fighters. If you advance to the final, you can fight at Korakuen Hall, which is generally regarded as the Mecca of Japanese boxing. The Central Japan regional qualifier for the tournament was my debut. “My opponent was a guy named Hiroki Hanabusa, who would later become a youth champion in professional boxing. Oh boy, I was nervous. In karate, I really didn’t train that hard, so even if I lost, I didn’t really care that much. But boxing was different because I was so into it. I prepared so hard and didn’t want to lose, so I put so much pressure on myself in the ring. “I don’t remember the name of the venue. There were no fans, because it was an amateur event, but there were still a lot of people who came along with the fighters. “Chairman Ishii kept telling me that I would become a world champion someday. He never became a champion, so he was hoping I could fulfill that dream for him. I don’t know what made him believe I was the one, but because
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