Junto Nakatani successfully defended his title against David Cuellar Contreras on February 24 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The Japanese three-division world champion dropped the contender from Mexico twice en route to a stoppage victory at the very end of the third round.
The first knockdown came from a combination when the 27-year-old southpaw landed a right hand, followed by a pair of hooks, a left punch to the body, and a one-two. Although Cuellar (28-1, 18 KOs) managed to beat the count and get back on his feet, Nakatani (30-0, 23 KOs) was right back at him, throwing a jab followed by a big left hand and more punches that sent the challenger to the canvas for the second and final time in the fight.
With the victory, Junto Nakatani made the third successful defense of his WBC bantamweight title and remained undefeated. In his next fight, he is expected to face current IBF 118-pound titleholder Ryosuke Nishida (10-0, 2 KOs) in an all-Japanese championship unification.
David Cuellar Contreras, who went through the ropes for the first time outside his home country, didn’t succeed in his first attempt to become champion and suffered his first career defeat.
In Nakatani vs Cuellar undercard action
The rematch between defending WBA bantamweight champion Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-3, 8 KOs) and former flyweight champion Daigo Higa (21-3-2, 19 KOs), serving as the co-feature, ended in a unanimous draw. After 12 rounds, all three judges scored the fight 114-114. Their first 10-round non-title fight, held in October 2020, ended in a majority draw, with one judge scoring it 96-94 for Higa, and the other two scoring it 95-95.
Among other Nakatani vs Cuellar results, Japanese former kickboxing champion Tenshin Nasukawa (6-0, 2 KOs) won a unanimous decision against former 118-pound champion Jason Moloney (27-4, 19 KOs) from Australia. After 10 rounds at bantamweight, the scores were 97-93, 97-93, and 98-92.
Among the undercard bouts featuring Japanese boxers, Ryuya Moriai (5-2-1, 1 KO) earned his first win via stoppage against Eigoro Akai (5-4, 4 KOs) at super middleweight. The official time was 1:15 into the second round.
Ryosuke Kiuchi (3-3-1, 2 KOs) returned to winning ways, defeating Fuentes Kitajima (2-2) by unanimous decision at lightweight. The four-round bout ended with the scores 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.
Hayato Aiko (2-0) defeated Yuki Sato (0-1) by unanimous decision at featherweight. After four rounds, all three scores were 39-37.