Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodrigiez’s trainer Robert Garcia has rated Junto Nakatani as most dangerous puncher Naoya Inoue will have fought when the pair meet on May 2.
Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) and Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) collide at the historic Tokyo Dome in the most highly anticipated Japanese boxing match of all time. Pound-4-pound superstar, Inoue, will make the seventh straight defense of his undisputed super bantamweight championship, while Nakatani makes his second appearance at 122 pounds following an inconsistent debut at the weight limit. Nakatani defeated Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision last December in Riyadh on an undercard topped by Inoue outpointing David Picasso.
“He has a challenge against Nakatani,” Garcia said on the Spit Bucket Podcast. “People might be counting him out but Nakatani is a very dangerous fighter. His style is one of those tough, strong fighters that has tremendous power.”
Garcia would have had his eye on the Inoue and the weight class for some time, with Rodriguez having long been linked to a mega-fight with the undisputed champion. The WBA, WBC and WBO super flyweight champion moves toward Inoue and Nakatani when he moves up to bantamweight to challenge Antonio Vargas for the WBA bantamweight title on June 13.
“I think Nakatani is going to put up a great fight, he has got great power, and Inoue has been dropped a couple of times,” Garcia added. “I don’t think that the fighters that Inoue has been dropped by are as good or have as much power as Nakatani has.
“He is a solid guy, man, and he is going to put up a good fight. I still pick Inoue, yes, but it is going to be a really good fight.”
