One of the sport’s very best fighters also remains among its most active.
Three-division and reigning WBC bantamweight Junto Nakatani will fight for the third time in 2024. The Ring’s No. 9 pound-for-pound entrant faces Thailand’s Petch CP Freshmart atop an Oct. 14 title fight tripleheader from Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The show is on the back end of loaded shows on two consecutive days presented by Mr. Honda’s Teiken Promotions. Seven title fights will grace the two-day series, both taking place at Ariake Arena. Both events will air live on ESPN+ in the U.S.
Nakatani (28-0, 21 knockouts) is fresh off a first-round knockout of the Philippines’ Vincent Astrolabio. Their July 20 headliner at Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo topped a lineup similar to this event.
The win over Astrolabio came less than five months after Nakatani won his third divisional crown. It came in a sixth-round knockout of Alexandro Santiago, who previously outpointed the legendary Nonito Donaire to win the WBC title last July 29 in Las Vegas.
Nakatani previously held titles at 112 and 115 pounds. He is currently The Ring’s No. 1-rated bantamweight.
CP Freshmart (76-1, 53 KOs) amazingly enters his first career title fight.
The 30-year-old southpaw has been a pro for more than thirteen years. The closest he’s come to a major belt was a Dec. 2018 loss to Takuma Inoue in their interim WBC bantamweight title fight. CP Freshmart—birth name Tasana Salapat—has won 28 in a row, though mostly versus middling competition.
Also in action are recently crowned titlists Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) and Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs). Both will make the first defense of their respective WBO belts.
Tanaka, No. 4 at 115, puts his WBO junior bantamweight belt on the line versus South Africa’s Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KOs). The all action fighter from Aichi became a four-division titlist in a Feb. 24 points victory over Christian Bacasegua. He was due to appear on the July 20 Nakatani-Astrolabio card. However, challenger Jonathan Rodriguez showed up more than seven pounds above the 115-pound limit and was scratched from the show.
Cafu enters his first career title fight and also ventures outside of South Africa for the first time as a pro.
Olascuaga will face former WBO 108-pound titlist Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs). Their mandatory title fight was settled earlier this month and just awaited a fight date.
The Los Angeles native claimed his WBO flyweight title in a terrific third-round knockout of Riku Kano. The Ring’s No. 8-rated flyweight hadn’t fought in ten months but didn’t show any signs of ring rust in his second title bid. He previously suffered a ninth-round knockout to Kenshiro Teraji in a late replacement role for the Ring, WBC and WBA 108-pound crown.
Fittingly, Olascuaga was a replacement that evening for Gonzalez, who’d fallen ill. It cost the Boricua a lucrative unification bout, which never came back round. Illness, injuries and weight struggles dulled his title reign to just three defenses over three years. Gonzalez vacated the title in June to campaign at flyweight, where he was installed as the mandatory challenger.
The evening’s co-feature is the lone non-title fight of the night. Popular gate attraction and bantamweight prospect Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KOs) will face the Philippines’ Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KOs) in a ten-round regional title fight.
Nasukawa is fresh off his first true knockout victory. He knocked outJonathan Rodriguez (not the fatty who blew weight versus Tanaka) in the third round on the July 20 Nakatani-Astrolabio undercard. He previously stopped Luis Robles in the third as well, though due to ankle injury.
The former kickboxing star went the distance in each of his first two bouts but is already being fast tracked towards title contention.
Asilo enjoys a quick turnaround as well. The rising bantamweight from Bohol won via second-round knockout on July 27 in Tagbilaran City, which has hosted his last four fights. This trip marks his first as a pro outside the Philippines.
Headlining the Oct. 13 card, divisional rival and WBA titlist Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs) attempts his first defense versus countryman Seiya Tsutsumi (11-0-2, 8 KOs).
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