Junto Nakatani came out on top on October 14, when he faced Tasana Salapat aka Petch Sor Chitpattana in the main event at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Making the second defense of his WBC bantamweight title, Japan’s three-division world champion twice dropped and ultimately stopped the contender of Thailand at the end of the sixth round.
With the victory by TKO, Junto Nakatani made the second successful defense of his belt, remained undefeated and improved to 29-0, 22 KOs. Petch Sor Chitpattana, who made his first attempt to land one of four major straps, dropped to 76-2, 53 KOs.
In the co-feature at bantamweight, Japanese Tenshin Nasukawa (5-0, 2 KOs) defeated Gerwin Asilo (9-1, 4 KOs) of the Philippines by unanimous decision. With the victory, the former kickboxing champion lifted the vacant WBO Asia Pacific title. The scores were 97-92, 98-91 x2
Among other Nakatani vs Chitpattana results, South Africa’s unbeaten Phumelele Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) dethroned Japan’s Kosei Tanaka (20-2, 11 KOs) by split decision to become a new WBO junior bantamweight champion. After 12 rounds, one judge scored the fight 114-113 for the defending champion, while two other judges had the same for the challenger.
There was no decision in the WBO flyweight title fight between LA’s champion Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 1 ND, 5 KOs) and challenger Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1, 1 ND, 14 KOs) of Puerto Rico. The latter got cut in the first round from an accidental clash of heads and the bout was stopped.
An all-Japanese event opener between Excel James Junior (2-1-1) and Ayato Kobayashi (1-0-1) ended in a majority draw. After four rounds at super lightweight, the scores were 39-37 for the latter and 38-38 x2.