LOS ANGELES – The respect is deep. The intention to achieve victory is fiercer.
As the days dwindle leading up to the most massive bout ever to be staged in Japan, waged between two of the country’s most accomplished champions, the cultural knack to keep things simple and humble can effectively be reduced to the above sentences.
Naoya Inoue is hailed by Junto Nakatani trainer Rudy Hernandez as the world’s best fighter and the top Japanese boxer of all time. But after guiding the younger, taller and rising Nakatani through his training camp here, Hernandez made clear two things can be true at once.
“It’s one thing to respect the fighter, but when the bell rings, we’re going to go in there and try to knock his head off,” Hernandez said. “We can’t settle for anything less than winning. Winning, to us, means everything.”
A sellout crowd of 55,000 is expected at the Tokyo Dome on May 2 when four-division champion and mythical pound-for-pound king Inoue, 32-0 (27 KOs), meets three-division champion Nakatani, 32-0 (24 KOs), for the undisputed junior featherweight championship on DAZN.
On Monday, the left-handed Nakatani, 28, worked through a series of movements and rapid positioning and punching drills all aimed to penetrate the shield and complicate the bout for the older Inoue, 33, who has been knocked down in two of his past six bouts.
“The advantage [Nakatani] has is his height and reach, and the fact he’s a little younger,” Hernandez said. “Other than that, it’s about who’s going to land first, who’s the quicker of the two, and who’s going to be able to better take the punches.”
Nakatani demonstrated complete control during his positioning drills, flashing a smile to Hernandez during the sequence as if to confirm full readiness for the bout as they prepare to leave L.A. for Tokyo on Friday.
“I’m very much looking forward to it, and I believe I can deliver a performance that will satisfy all 55,000 spectators,” Nakatani told BoxingScene after his workout.
“I believe boxing is a sport that can move people’s hearts deeply, and for me, there's a significant meaning to that.”
Nakatani has trained with Hernandez in Los Angeles since the age of 14, fulfilling the veteran cornerman’s lifelong ambition to guide a young amateur all the way to a million-dollar purse, which Nakatani accomplished in December by defeating Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez in a surprisingly competitive bout in Saudi Arabia.
Hernandez has trained fighters since the 1980s, when he cornered his late brother, Genaro Hernandez, to two junior lightweight title reigns during the 1990s.
In this camp, Nakatani has worked on advancing his movement and boosting his versatility, which features crisp power, rapid footwork and lightning-fast hand speed, in the effort to solve the amazingly fast destructive power puncher Inoue. With 3ins height and 1in reach advantages, the upgrades could prove consequential, with Inoue being a -450 betting favorite and Nakatani a 3-to-1 underdog.
A few weeks ago, others in the gym expressed some concerns to Hernandez that Nakatani was slow to mix in the changes to effectively strengthen his repertoire.
Hernandez has told those same people, “When you’re working on something, it takes some time. … On fight night, that’s when you have to perform. Not in the gym.”
And Hernandez declared this in talking to BoxingScene on Monday: “He’s ready. I’m looking for Junto to react to everything that Inoue does in the ring. Timing is everything. I believe Inoue to be the greatest fighter in the world nowadays, and we have our hands full. There’s a reason why he’s the favorite and why he’s the No. 1 fighter in the world, in my book.”
Asked about his training camp development, Nakatani said, “My training has been progressing smoothly, and I feel it's coming along very well. In terms of range, I feel the things that I can do have expanded, and I want to make full use of that in the fight.”
Nakatani and Inoue are peers, not friends. Hernandez knows of only one interaction of substance between the pair, when they both fought on the Saudi Arabia card.
Inoue has kept his distance, Hernandez said, the trainer speculating that’s because the proud champion has viewed Nakatani as “a threat.”
That’s why there’s deference to Inoue’s accomplishments and talent – but also a yearning to shatter the mystique.
“Of course we can win … everything that has a beginning has an ending,” Hernandez said. “Once you’ve made it to the top, you can’t go no further than that. Today, you’re No. 1. Tomorrow, someone else will be No. 1.”
The odds might reflect that Nakatani had such difficulty with the heavy-handed Sebastian Hernandez, who was edged by two 115-113 scorecards.
Trainer Hernandez said two things should be noted about that outcome, including the fact Sebastian Hernandez is a career-long junior featherweight, not a career-starting minimumweight fighter making his debut in the weight class, as Nakatani was.
Additionally, Rudy Hernandez revealed this: “A lot of people don’t know Sebastian Hernandez was there training in Japan with Naoya Inoue for one week, and they got rid of him, supposedly saying he was not that good.
“You think he wasn’t good? Maybe he was too damn good. So why take the risk against a guy as good as he is? Sebastian Hernandez could be fighting tomorrow as a 135-pounder. Junto has moved up from 108lbs … there’s a big difference.
“I watched the fight to see what we could do better. Being as honest as I can, I had it 7-5 Junto. He landed the punch that stood out in the close rounds. He won the fight.”
Nakatani made clear he’s moving on to the greater task.
“The last fight is out there in the public … so I don’t have any comments on that, but I'll let the next fight speak for itself,” Nakatani said. “I’m in great shape, so I’ll do everything I can to perform at more than 100 per cent. Ultimately, we’ll find out in May.”
Away from the ring and this current obsession of Inoue, Nakatani takes joy in ocean fishing, reeling in rockfish amid the quiet.
“I like fishing because it’s something that allows me to clear my mind,” he said.
That silence contrasts so severely with the coming din of walking to the ring for Inoue, with 55,000 roaring for the expected firefight on a global stage.
“Everybody knows this is going to be the biggest fight in Japan’s history. We’re going in with intention to knock him out, just like Inoue wants to do to Junto. When the bell rings, it will be Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani fighting it out, and that’s what we want,” said Hernandez, expressing confidence in his fighter’s ability to thrive in the moment. “He’s really good at it. Nobody challenges himself more than he does. I’m sure Inoue feels the same. I feel, at the end of the day, it’s all about who can execute first.”
And although the respectful and humble approach are profound by comparison to some prizefights, make no mistake about how immense this pursuit of victory has become.
“If we can knock out Inoue and beat him, I can die the next day and life does not owe me anything,” Hernandez said. “Everything that I have looked to be or accomplish, I will have accomplished.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
