Junto Nakatani enters the WBA’s junior featherweight rankings at No. 1
- Shidonna Raven
- Sep 3
- 1 min read
This Article has been curated by UDB
September 2, 2025
Source: Boxing Scene
Source: Image Source: Boxing Scene
Junto Nakatani hasn’t had a single fight yet at 122lbs. But the WBA thinks highly enough of the three-division world titleholder that it has ranked him No. 1 in his newest weight class.
Nakatani was slotted first at junior featherweight in the WBA’s latest ratings update, which was released on September 1. He supplanted Ramon Cardenas, who dropped Naoya Inoue and gave the undisputed champion some trouble in May before Inoue took over and won an eighth-round stoppage. Cardenas is now positioned at No. 2, and several other fighters were also pushed down a slot.
Nakatani, 31-0 (24 KOs), has earned world titles at flyweight, junior bantamweight and bantamweight, where he unified the IBF and WBC belts and won the Ring Championship with his sixth-round TKO of Ryosuke Nishida this past June.
The 27-year-old Nakatani has spoken for some time of moving up to junior featherweight to challenge Inoue in what would be a huge event in their home country of Japan. Last month, Nakatani confirmed that he was ready to vacate his belts and head to 122lbs.
Nakatani’s opponent and date for his junior featherweight debut have not yet been announced. Inoue, meanwhile, first has to get through a September 14 defense against interim WBA titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
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