Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani IS ON for May 2nd

Amazing bout for us fans. Not necessarily a good move from the Nakatani camp though. Given his last bout he could be given more time and experience to become acclimated to the weight.

At this point it's very good timing for Inoue to win. Given that he has always done very well against southpaws as well its hard to not favour him. One thing Inoue does have to watch out for is that looping left. Inoue's right hand side and tendency to lean back is the weakness in his defense and can be exploited as we have seen recently.

 

One thing that Zhilei Zhang got wrong is that he should've changed his surname to...Nakatani. So that it would not rhyme even more. Then he'd have been a puncher.

 

Inoue, like his brother Takuma, doesn't know how to box on the back foot. Even though I favor him against Junto Nakatani, who's coming off a war and, as you said, isn't fully acclimated to his new weight, this is another significant weakness of Naoya Inoue. Junto Nakatani knows how to box on the back foot and is very good at managing distance, but I sense he'll give up during the fight. I see Nakatani giving up around the 8th round.

 

Is this The Monsters biggest test yet?

 

Just realized that this will be on the same day as Benavidez vs Zurdo. Two fights that guaranteed some excitement. May 2 will be a great day for boxing fans.

 

We shall see.

In defence of Nakatani, all the talk about how he struggled in his last fight has overshadowed the grit he displayed. He's no glass cannon. He isn't crumbling after the first good shot. He also throws a mean left, which (though I think hubris played a part on each occasion) is the hand that has floored Naoya twice.

 

Now OFFICIAL

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The entire card is insane. One of the bouts is Jin Sasaki vs Sora Tanaka , an insane matchup. Its Japans Matthysse vs Provodnikov.

 

Inoue is the ****ing man. No kick boxers for him. If he wins this he's nr 1 p4p with a distance.

 

Looks like a really solid card. Sasaki vs Tanaka will be a war!

 

No messing about with Inoue. 4 title defenses last year. Puts the rest of the current part time boxers to shame.
Compare this with the Ennis/Ortiz shenanigans and so many other great fights denied us, through inactivity and waiting longingly for Saudi loot!

 

Too bad Inoue is only a star in boxing. He'll probably only sell out the Tokyo dome.

 

This I agree with folks saying Inoue hasn’t looked as good as his peak but Nakatani isn’t the guy to dethrone him. It’ll take someone like Espinoza or Shushu. Nakatani is crafty and a good fighter but he isn’t elite in power or speed at 122.

 

sorry not sure on that.

I'm in Japan and just got my tickets through here.

It might be open to everyone though, you can set the website to English
https://lab.ticketme.co.jp/202653-tokyodome/

I am really excited for this one!

 

Nakatani is overrated