SAN FRANCISCO – If Junto Nakatani gets another crack at Naoya Inoue and comes up short again, his trainer vows he will never coach another boxer.
Last week, Inoue defeated Nakatani via unanimous decision at the Tokyo Dome in Japan’s capital city. The bout was one of boxing’s most anticipated fights in some time, and also was contested for the undisputed junior featherweight title.
In it, Nakatani, 32-1 (24 KOs), suffered his first career loss – something Rudy Hernandez believes wouldn’t happen again. Nakatani’s trainer is so confident that he is willing to put his own career on the line.
“If we don’t beat [Inoue] in the rematch, I will never train fighters again,” Hernandez told BoxingScene. “I will retire. I will quit, because I really believe in the rematch we are going to kick Inoue’s butt.”
The 28-year-old Nakatani started slowly against Inoue, which arguably stands to reason. Inoue, 33-0 (27 KOs), already has a Hall of Fame resume, including titles in four weight classes – and undisputed champion status in two of those divisions. Inoue has made seven successful title defenses of his current undisputed crown since capturing all the titles with a win over Marlon Tapales in 2023.
The 33-year-old “Monster” Inoue fended off a fellow pound-for-pound fighter in Nakatani in a fight that held extra significance for each: Inoue is from Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, while Nakatani is from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan – meaning, the winner could make a case for being the most accomplished fighter in Japanese boxing history. Their meeting was Japan’s biggest match ever between two fighters from the country, and it filled up the Tokyo Dome.
“That same night, I kept talking to myself and talking about how I failed him,” Hernandez said. “But at the end of the day, it is already done. It is yesterday. It is behind us.“
When asked, Hernandez found one thing that stood out about the fight.
“The moment Junto told me that [Inoue] doesn’t hit that hard,” Hernandez said. “That was a game-changer. I wish he had told me that in the second or third round.”
That moment came in the seventh round, after which Nakatani had his most success in the fight – until the 11th round, when Inoue landed a right uppercut that broke Nakatani's orbital bone.
“People talk about the headbutt,” Hernandez said. “The headbutt was irrelevant – it had nothing to do with the fight at all. The beginning of the 11th round, [Inoue] hit him with a right uppercut, and that was the game-changer, that is where we lost.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
