Unbeaten WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani will make the primary safeguard of his new belt July 20 at Tokyo’s Ariake Field against highest level competitor Vincent Astrolabio, chief Sean Gibbons told BoxingScene.
Japan’s three-division champion Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs) has been a damaging power, following a feature reel knockout of Andrew Moloney one year prior with a fruitful super-flyweight title guard prior to scoring a 6th round technical knockout over Alexander Santiago to catch the bantamweight belt in February.
In the Philippines’ Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs), Nakatani meets a Manny Pacquiao-advanced warrior who scored a knockdown-helped consistent choice throughout double cross Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2022 preceding dropping a larger part choice misfortune to then-WBO bantamweight champion Jason Moloney one year prior in Stockton, Calif.
Astrolabio recuperated from that misfortune to overcome veteran Navapon Khaikanha of Thailand by a fantastic eleventh round technical knockout in an August eliminator.
Junto Nakatani Set For First Bantamweight Title Defense Against Vincent Astrolabio on July 20 https://t.co/CyD226BoyV
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“Vincent advanced such a huge amount from his most memorable title shot that he will take into this battle,” Gibbons said. “He’s coming to Japan with weighty hands, taking a gander at the huge chance of bringing home a big showdown against a person like this … being a boss around this weight class places everybody in the (Naoya) Inoue sweepstakes.”
Prior to referencing undisputed super-bantamweight champion Inoue, who recently took out Mexico’s Luis Nery in the 6th round before 55,000 at the Tokyo Arch, Astrolabio first needs to battle with Japan’s second-best contender.
“We realize Nakatani is viewed as a genuine monster at the present time and a potential rival for Inoue one year from now,” Gibbons said. “Suppose we whack the fellow and look enormous … besides, bringing home a WBC championship is consistently the greatest and most esteemed achievement in the more modest loads.”
Gibbons imagines Astrolabio showing what he calls “cave dweller type” punches terminated from “weighty, weighty hands.”
“He put Rigondeaux on the deck, which got everybody to sit up and understand, ‘Hello, this person’s a sleeper,'” Gibbons said. “He’s a slow developer in that his initial misfortunes came at a time he was simply learning and sorting things out. “This is an immense undertaking, very much like Luis Nery had a gigantic errand prior to putting Inoue on the deck. Indeed, he got halted, however he showed these folks in Japan aren’t unapproachable.
“Vincent accompanies a triumphant mindset and that is a portion of the fight.”
Astrolabio initially comes from a similar old neighborhood as Pacquiao in Everyday Santos City, as Pacquiao has forcefully pushed his warriors toward title shots.
