Is this the Golden Age of Japanese Boxing? Bantamweight titles return to Land of the Rising Sun

BLH has 3 Japanese fighters in their P4P top 10 incl. ATG Naoya Inoue @1 who's the best offensive fighter since PacMan and arguably a better fighter at 30 (no 3 losses) with a resume lacking ATG opposition other than Noni (not his fault). He might be the best post-Floyd fighter period and Crawford is running out of time to outdo him, never facing even one ATG opponent, why he's gunning for Clen.

Junto Nakatani stormed the rankings becoming a 3-division champ super quick: lanky, fast, intelligent, powerful and just hitting his prime. The no 2 dude from Japan Estrada, Choc & Bam rather danced around and for a good reason: his a very tall Monster Jr.!

Kenshiro is the dominant 108 force who can go undisputed & picked up power of late, always comes to fight, always fun to watch, he could also move up or just forever write himself into light flyweight history.

Kazuto Ioka is a 4-division future HOF champ still performing well and also being danced around by the name superflies. Great technician with a very long and successful career with some controversy.

Kosei Tanaka also a 4-division champ, only lost to Kazuto, not as skilled but performs well above his skill level by sheer Japanese determination and will.

You also have Judai & Ginjiro Shigeoka splitting 105 titles and looking good doing it.

Then there are the "other" titleholders doing fine, Takuma Inoue, Seigo Akui et al, and that's just the list of champs & P4P-ers, undercards and up and comers always entertain. Has Japanese boxing ever done better?

 

Unlike the fading ex-Soviet, the divided European & the entitled corpse of American boxing, Japan kept it respectful and on realistic scale.

No overpriced, overpromising, underdelivering PPVs alienating regulars. No networks overpaying entitled fighters who'll then cherry pick & barely fight. No in-house exclusives and judges clearly on the payroll (robberies are rare).

Ticket sales & network payment sustain the decent sized sport with the new generation showing up as well as the old, and since they are entertained, they are willing to return. No wonder talent is sustained too: it's great to try boxing out and see if you've got it, cause if so, you can expect decent paydays, national respect & loyal, passionate fans.

 

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Not 2 yrs after Inoue vacating 118 lbs, all titles are now back in Japan

WBC - Junto Nakatani brutalizes and stops champ Santiago
WBA - Also Inoue beats Solis-Ancajas-Ishida back to back
IBF - Ryosuke Nishida upsets top champ Rodriguez in 9th fight
WBO - Yoshiki Takei upsets champ Moloney also in 9th fight