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Junto Nakatani vs Tasana Salapat – massive fight preview and predictions

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Salapat fell short in his one previous step up to world level (Photo Credit: Tapology)

Nakatani will defend his crown on Monday (Poster source: top position)
Nakatani will defend his crown on Monday (Poster source: top position)

This Monday, a triple world title fight will take place at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, and in the main event Junto Nakatani will defend his WBC bantamweight title for the second time against Tasana Salapat from Thailand.

Top Rank is promoting the Nakatani vs Salapat fight and Sky Sports television in the UK.

Nakatani (28-0, 21 KO) won the vacant WBO flyweight title in November 2020, defeating Giemel Magramo in eight rounds, and traveled outside Japan for the first time to make his first defense, defeating Angel Acosta in the fourth round months later in Tucson.

After winning the super flyweight division, he then captured the vacant WBO super flyweight crown with a dominant last-round knockout of Andrew Moloney, defeating the Australian more than three times in a brutal fight.

After that crushing first defense, he rose to the top again, this time winning the WBC bantamweight title with a sixth-round victory over Alexandro Santiago. Nakatani was last sidelined in July due to needs in the round to knock out Vincent Astrolabio.

Now he will face Salapat (76-1, 53 KO), a man with a record in which it seems that not all is well. The 30-year-old from Roi-Et challenged for world titles in December 2018, but was badly defeated on the cards by Takuma Inoue in a fight for the interim WBC super bantamweight title.

Salapat failed to make the step to world level (Photo: Tapology)
Salapat failed to make the step to world level (Photo: Tapology)

He has since won 28 straight fights, but against a terrible list of opponents, most of whom were losing records or fighting on their debut. In his last fight, he defended his WBC Asian belt for the fourth time, scoring in ten rounds over GuiMing Li 6-5-1 at Rangsit in July.

Many believe Nakatani is the best 118-pound fighter in the world (Photo: Mikey Williams, top position)
Many believe Nakatani is the best 118-pound fighter in the world (Photo: Mikey Williams, top position)
Tanaka defends his title against Cafu

Kosei Tanaka won the vacant WBO super flyweight title in his last fight and makes his first defense against Phumelele Cafu.

Tanaka (20-1, 11 KO) won the belt in February on clear points against Christian Rangel and previously reigned as the WBO minimum-to-super flyweight champion.

After three draws early in his career, Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KO) is on a six-fight winning streak, with the South African winning the IBF International belt in August and then knocking out Enathi Stelle in just 26 seconds in the last contest in December 2023 at getting a free South African bauble.

Tanaka is a true rising star. Photo: badlefthook.com
Tanaka is a true rising star. Photo: badlefthook.com

The WBO flyweight title is also at stake here, and champion Anthony Olascuaga will defend himself against Jonathan Gonzalez.

Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KO) won the vacant title in July, knocking out Riku Kano in three rounds after being stopped in nine by Kenshiro Teraji for the WBC lithe heavyweight championship last April.

Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KO) comes from lithe flyweight, where he defended his WBO title three times, most recently a points win over Rene Santiago in his native Puerto Rico in March.

Undercard remaining

Elsewhere, Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KO) could win the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight title after scoring points with Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KO) and super lightweight hope Ayato Kobayashi (1-0, 0 KO ) ) can defeat Excell James Junior (2-1, 0 KO) in four rounds.

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UK Boxing

Mike Tyson’s record of 38 years was broken by the tragic boxer who died at the age of 35

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Paul Bamba, who sadly passed away at the age of 35, broke Mike Tyson’s long-standing record by fighting 14 times in one year.

In 1986, “Iron Mike” was at the peak of his career, establishing himself as one of boxing’s biggest stars. In his 13th and record-breaking fight this year, Tyson won the WBC heavyweight title after a sensational second-round knockout of Trevor Berbick. Rapid forward almost four decades, and Bamba has surpassed that feat. This year he fought 14 fights, winning each by knockout. He fought every month except September, although with confined opposition.

Bamba started the year with a victory over Guillermo Ponce, followed by a victory over Sergio Luna later that month. These consecutive knockout wins were followed by victories over Jefferson Troncoso, Victor Coronado, Pedro Miranda, Adoni Zapata Garcia, Jose Ramon Escobedo, Francisco Fuentes, Ronald Montes, Jose Luis Herrera, Angel Giovanni Ocano Garcia, Francisco Cordero and Santander Silgado Gelez.

After a triumphant victory in Modern Jersey where he won the WBA cruiserweight gold title, Paul Bamba rose to the top with his 14th knockout victory this month. However, just a few days after this milestone in his career, the boxing world was shocked by the news of Bamba’s untimely death at the age of 35.

In a heartfelt joint statement, international star Ne-Yo and Bamba’s family said: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our beloved son, brother, friend and boxing champion Paul Bamba, whose airy and love touched the lives of countless people. a fierce yet confident competitor with an unrelenting ambition to achieve greatness, but above all, he was an incredible person who inspired many with his exceptional determination. We are devastated by his death and ask for privacy and understanding at this tough time as we grieve together.”

After his final triumph, Bamba didn’t shy away from his future prospects, cheekily challenging Jake Paul: “[Jake Paul] you can come to get it, you can fight for it or whatever, you can keep doing trick fights. I finally put in the work. You can tell that you’re stern about boxing and yes, you’ve made a lot of money, but you haven’t made anything from boxing.

“If you think about how I started, compared to how things are going now, I didn’t wait for the opportunity that I created. I went out and grabbed it by the horns, so to speak, and did my part this year. Look at this. facts; 14 fights, 14 KOs in one year, how many belts do I have?

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UK Boxing

Anthony Joshua’s pre-fight defeat to Daniel Dubois was blamed on “something going wrong.”

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Anthony Joshua’s trainer has revealed that several factors went wrong in the run-up to the British boxer’s clash with Daniel Dubois.

Joshua fought for his third world heavyweight title but suffered a crushing defeat. The 35-year-old boxer was knocked down four times before being knocked out in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium. Joshua remains determined to regain his world title despite his fourth professional defeat in September.

As he prepares to return to the ring next year, trainer Ben Davison has shed airy on the reasons behind Joshua’s heartbreaking loss to Dubois. Speaking to talkSPORT, Davison revealed: “I know between us we know where things went wrong.”

He went on to emphasize the importance of owning up to our mistakes, stating, “It’s vital for us not to look like we’re making excuses. But there are things that went wrong that we could have done a better job inside and around. And closer to the fight. You can’t put the blame on yourself, we have to take it upon ourselves. And that’s exactly what we did.

Meanwhile, following Tyson Fury’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, Turki Alalshikh expressed his ambitions for the heavyweight boxing scene. Speaking to The Stomping Ground, he candidly offered his perspective on the match, stating: “I think he is [Usyk] he won, I counted, and he had four more rounds. Tyson did everything, he fought an amazing fight, but that’s boxing: there is a winner and a loser.”

Alalshikh didn’t stop there, revealing his desire for a potential rematch, saying: “Then if Dubois wins in February, I want to see Usyk and Dubois again. I want to see Tyson too, maybe with [Anthony] Joshua or something, we’ll decide. Let’s see what can happen, everything in Riyad’s season is realistic… The most vital thing is that the fans are enjoying it.

Alalshikh’s vision is clear and Eddie Hearn appears to be on the same page when it comes to Fury vs Joshua. After the Usyk vs. Fury fight, Hearn shared his feelings with DAZN: “I don’t think it’s time to start screaming, Usyk vs. Fury will happen tonight, but the reality is Tyson Fury only has one fight and that’s Anthony Joshua “. asserting it would be like this: “It’s probably the biggest fight in British boxing history, it’s something everyone will always want to see. And by the way, this wasn’t Tyson Fury who looked done, it wasn’t a flat performance, it wasn’t a tender performance, he didn’t look timid, he didn’t look like his punch resistance was in question as we talked about earlier.

He also dispelled any claims that Fury’s performance showed any signs of deterioration, commenting that he was neither tender nor indicative of a decline in immunity, as some had previously speculated. “I think Tyson Fury is still potentially at the top of his game, he’s just not good enough to be Oleksandr Usyk tonight. But for me AJ v Fury is the one, it’s the one at Wembley, I will push for his Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] for this fight, but maybe let’s leave it for another day, tonight belongs to Oleksandr Usyk. But I think Fury will have a problem with this. “All fighters do this, AJ also struggled with the loss to Dubois, you are the winner and when you get beaten it hurts and that will hurt Fury.”

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UK Boxing

Mike Tyson said heavyweight Tyson Fury thinks he will take over from Oleksandr Usyk ‘no’

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Mike Tyson once gave a stern warning to Moses Itauma, and Tyson Fury advised him to take over from Oleksandr Usyk as heavyweight boxing king. The boxing legend shut down rising star Itauma’s comments about the heavyweight division, stating: “No, no bums.”

Usyk continues to dominate the league after his second victory over Fury last Saturday, winning a unanimous decision with a score of 116-112. He defended the WBA, WBC and WBO titles, maintaining his undefeated record.

However, with Usyk now 37 years aged and the best years of Fury and Anthony Joshua gone, the boxing world is waiting for another dominant force. 19-year-old British sensation Itauma is a fighter who has a chance to become heavyweight champion, nicknamed “Britain’s Mike Tyson”.

He fought on a tender card in Usyk vs Fury 2, dismantling Demsey McKean and earning a first-round TKO victory in Riyad that improved his impressive record to 11-0. Slovakia-born Itauma’s fighting prowess is becoming increasingly evident, but it’s something his sparring partner Fury predicted back in March this year.

The Gypsy King shared a photo of himself standing with Itauma after a sparring session with the caption: “Moses Itauma is the future of the heavyweight division.” The former champion also confessed that he would never face Itauma in a solemn fight, saying last year: “No, I definitely wouldn’t do it. [accept a fight with Itauma]. Do you think I’m stupid? No, no, no.”

The 6-foot-4 southpaw has already secured nine professional stoppage victories since making his January 2023 debut. His explosive fighting style and meteoric rise have earned him comparisons to former undisputed world champion “Iron Mike,” and Tyson himself expressed Itauma’s words of wisdom when they met at ringside last year.

After Itauma’s sixth professional victory over Istvan Bernath, the boxing icon asked: “How many fights do you fight a year?” to which Itauma replied, “A lot,” adding, “I’m thinking about eight fights this year, eight fights next year, and then we’ll see what we can come up with. But I want eight quality fights, not eight bums. “

Tyson responded with sage advice, stating, “No, no, no, listen. Every fight is a quality fight because anything can happen there. There is no such thing as vagrants. I used to say people were bums until I came back. You can learn something from every fight.” Itauma then nodded in agreement.

He entered the ring four more times this year, building on his impressive seven fights in 2023. He also openly shared his ambition to break Tyson’s record as the youngest world heavyweight champion – a title Tyson won at the age of 20.

He said Mirror in 2023: “I want to become the youngest heavyweight world champion since Mike Tyson, who was 20 years aged. I have to take diminutive steps, but at the same time pick up the pace very quickly. I want to take compact steps, but not too many with them.”

Itauma added: “My medium-term goals include becoming the youngest ever heavyweight world champion, but I believe I can achieve this before 2025. I’m in the right place because Frank Warren has all the other great heavyweights right now, so I think I have a radiant future ahead of me.”

This would mean he has to win one of the main belts by May 26, 2025, and those belts are currently held by Usyk and Daniel Dubois.

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