Junto Nakatani (right) knocks out Vincent Astrolabio to the body in the first round of his July 20 WBC bantamweight title defense in Tokyo. Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda
Junto Nakatani has benefited from a years-long working relationship with Top Rank.
The Las Vegas-based promotional powerhouse is now going the official route.
Teiken Promotions and MT Boxing Gym have signed a partnership agreement with Top Rank, both parties confirmed on Wednesday. The announcement came four days after Nakatani (28-0, 21 knockouts) stopped Vincent Astrolabio (19-6, 14 KOs) in the first round of their July 20 WBC title fight in Tokyo.
“I want to thank Bob Arum and everyone at Top Rank,” Nakatani said of the move. “This is an important time in my career, and I want to continue to give boxing fans good fights.”
Top Rank regularly shows Nakatani's career on ESPN+, including title fights spanning three weight divisions. The undefeated 26-year-old from Sagamihara, Japan is 7-0 in such fights, winning titles at 112, 115 and 118 pounds.
Saturday's win at Astrolabio was the second in 2024 for Nakatani, No. 1 of 118 is The Ring. He is currently No. 10 pound-for-pound but will move up to No. 9 in the next rate revision in the coming days.
The belief from all sides is that one day he will be at the top of the list.
“Junto Nakatani is a unique, unique talent,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “He has natural strength and is one of the most brutal boxers in the sport.
“The Junto Nakatani Era begins. He will be a pound for pound king one day, and I am delighted that he has decided to join the Top Rank stable.”
Nakatani is the first Top Rank signing to be officially announced this week. It comes on the heels of headline news that Top Rank has re-signed Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) to a deal with the promotion. The Ring has learned that Munguia's announcement is expected to come later this week.
Both signings come on the heels of Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) moving on to free agency. The three division roster has fought under the Top Rank banner since its debut in 2017. His departure from their roster freed up a range of resources that allowed for the signings of Nakatani and Munguia, with more to come.
News of Nakatani's next fight is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘161022561146884’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10&appId=128026463954740”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
Source link
