Nakatani Vs. Astrolabio: Three-weight King Meets Hungry Opponent Astrolabio Saturday

The WBC bantamweight champion, Junto Nakatani, faces puncher Vincent Astrolabio on Saturday, July 20, in a fight expected to end with a knockout at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo. The event of Nakatani vs. Astrolabio will be shown live on ESPN+. Astrolabio has the potential to score one knockout of Nakatani if ​​he can land his shot cleanly.

(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda)

Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs) is seen as a rising star with recent knockouts of Alexandro Santiago and Andrew Moloney. However, he has never faced a puncher like Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs) during his nine-year professional career, and it will be interesting to see how Nakatani holds up under fire.

Closer Nakatani even faced someone as strong as Astrolabi when he fought Francisco Rodríguez Jr. in November 2022, a 10-round fight. Nakatani took several hard shots but could not shake Rodriguez Jr. with his power.

WBC bantamweight world champion, three-division king, and rising pound-for-pound star Junto Nakatani will defend his belt against Vincent Astrolabio of the Philippines on Saturday, July 20, at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Nakatani captured his third division world title last February, knocking out Alexandro Santiago in the sixth round to win the WBC bantamweight title in Tokyo. Last year, Nakatani knocked out Andrew Moloney in the 12th round to win the vacant WBC super flyweight belt.

The boxing community was hoping that Nakatabi would stay at 115 to fight Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez, but the interest was not there for him to face him. So, Nakatani went ahead and took the WBC 118-lb belt.

Astrolabio challenged for the vacant WBO bantamweight title against Jason Moloney last May but came up short, losing a twelve-round majority decision in Stockton, California. In Astrolabio's last fight, he came back with an 11th round submission victory over Nawaphon Kaikanha in August 2023 in Thailand.