Junto Nakatani is back in the ring on October 14, when he faces Petch Sor Chitpattana at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Battling it out in the main event live on ESPN+, the Japanese three-weight champion puts his WBC bantamweight title on the line.
Unbeaten Junto Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) goes through the ropes for the third time in 2024 and makes the second defense of his title. The 26-year-old southpaw stopped Vincent Astrolabio in the first round last time out in July. Nakatani landed the belt in his third division in February, dethroning Alexandro Santiago via sixth-round TKO.
Petch Sor Chitpattana (76-1, 53 KOs) also fights for the third time this year and makes his first attempt to land one of four major belts. In December 2018, the contender of Thailand fought Takuma Inoue for the interim WBC bantamweight belt, but fell short dropping a unanimous decision. In his previous outing in July, the 30-year-old southpaw defeated GuiMing Li by unanimous decision and secured his 28th win in a row.
In the co-feature, Japanese former kickboxing champion Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KOs) takes on Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KOs) of the Philippines. The pair squares off for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds.
Among the 12-round bouts featured on the Nakatani vs Sor Chitpattana undercard, Japan’s WBO junior bantamweight champion Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) defends his title against unbeaten contender Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KOs) of South Africa. Plus, LA’s Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs) defends his WBO flyweight title against light flyweight champion Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs) of Puerto Rico.