Amazing news. I'm going with a Nakatani VS Nishida final with Nakatani winning and then moving up to 122 to fight Inoue in the greatest fight between two Japanese fighters in the history of boxing.
Nishida vs Takuma would be a great fight imo, neither are big punchers but both men have ring IQs that are through the roof. I loved watching Nishida's fight against Manny, really exciting and a closer fight than I thought it would be after reading about it, Nishida's jab is so educated and sharp, and he's a capable inside fighter who fights well to the body and he weathered a lot of big shots from Manny. Takuma has the boxing brain of Shingo behind him, arguably the best trainer in the sport and has shown a very high pedigree recently. That would be the fight I'm most excited for honestly. Wouldn't mind seeing Takuma vs Junto either, not that high on Takei to be frank, he's good and hits hard but that 12th round against Moloney has me worried, and Moloney looked really old in there. I expect Junto to come out on top though and move up to fight Inoue at 122 for an all-Japanese super fight. Gonna be very exciting to watch this tournament. I assume it'll be picked up by TR?
Nakatani is the best from all the underhyped japanese boxers, excluding Ioka, who is the most underrated asian boxer of this century for me