The trainer of one of Naoya Inoue’s former opponents has warned Inoue that if he becomes “reckless” against Junto Nakatani he risks being stopped.
On Saturday, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, Inoue and Nakatani contest Inoue’s undisputed junior-featherweight title in an occasion that represents perhaps the most significant fight of 2026.
Nakatani, 28, has come to be considered the biggest threat that exists to Inoue, whose fine run of results at 122lbs includes victories over Stephen Fulton, Luis Nery, Marlon Tapales, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Ramon Cardenas, TJ Doheny – who was led that night by Tony Del Vecchio – and more.
Del Vecchio, who from the Bondi Boxing Club in Sydney, Australia also once travelled to Japan to watch from ringside Nakatani defeat his fellow Japanese Ryosuke Nishida in perhaps his finest win, saw Inoue “break down” and stop Doheny in 2024 but believes that the Japanese fighting mentality means that he will struggle to achieve the same outcome against Nakatani.
He therefore also recognises that the 33-year-old Inoue will prove similarly resilient, and that Nakatani’s greatest hope of success lies in his power proving enough to knock the great Inoue out.
“There’s no quit,” Del Vecchio told BoxingScene. “The [Japanese Boxing] Commission’s old and stoic; the trainers the same.
“[Inoue’s] strengths are about breaking down. Against TJ, for instance – break him down, break him down.
“He’ll break you down where you either give up or he’ll find a hole and knock you out. That’s not gonna happen with Nakatani – I don’t think he’s gonna have that shot ‘cause [Nakatani’s] pretty good, and he won’t quit. Inoue looking for that break down gets taken away ‘cause of the sheer magnitude of the fight and the way that they’re both hard. It’s Japan. You don’t quit.
“Inoue’s footwork is something special. The way he moves around; the way he puts himself in a position for a jab; that back-foot jabbing. Whereas Nakatani, having more of an American and Central and South America influence, there’s a bit more there for him to have to deal with. But Inoue downloads information really well, and is able to implement it, but he can be reckless, and if he’s reckless with Nakatani he’ll pay for it.
“He takes risks. He’s been on his backside a couple of times. But then he comes back – he adjusts so well. Can he adjust to someone like Nakatani, who’s as stoic and in your face as Inoue is, and has a Japanese toughness with a Central American flair, because of the coaching? Every time Inoue’s struggled he’s come back and beaten those guys emphatically. But they have been foreigners.
“Inoue can sometimes be reckless in his defence. He has found himself picking himself up off the canvas ‘cause he was a little bit reckless.”
Nakatani’s knockout of Del Vecchio’s fellow Australian Andrew Moloney in 2023 remains one of the most devastating of the modern era. He also has advantages over Inoue in height and reach.
“If he gets hold of Inoue he can do some damage, ‘cause he can hit,” said Del Vecchio from Denmark, where he is overseeing Linn Sandstrom’s preparations for her fight with Katherine Renee Lindenmuth on May 16. “Inoue’s had knockout after knockout and can win at call, if you like, [but] he has found himself in a bit of trouble at times.
“[Nakatani’s] got nothing to lose. This is the fight he’s wanted forever. He has that blunt-force trauma [punching power]. Someone like Nakatani, who’s a bit more of a boxer’s boxer, if he finds you, he can hurt you.
“I hope he’s not overawed by the occasion, ‘cause it is Inoue. Watching [Inoue] walk the streets or go to and from an arena is like nothing I’ve seen. It’s ridiculous. It may get into his head.
“He’s got to stay the course; stick to his plan, and if he can execute it and he gets one of those shots off, so be it. If he stays focused – the discipline – he’s gonna have a much better chance. If he gets a little bit reckless and tries to chase Inoue, all he’s giving is Inoue time to download the info, come up with a plan, and by rounds six to eight he may have you out of there.
“Nakatani knows how to finish. I’m not saying that Cardenas [who dropped Inoue] didn’t, but maybe he didn’t have it as much as Nakatani can. Nakatani’s young. He’s healthy. He looks after himself. He’s all about the boxing. He’s an enigma.
“Inoue wins because he breaks him down, downloads the info, and gets him towards the end. I’m not saying it’s going to be a knockout; it might just go on points. If it’s Nakatani, it’d have to be a stoppage, because he gets him and he’s able to finish him.”
