By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Some two hundred press members and photographers, plus various television crews, gathered at the press conference for the super fight titled “The Day” between “Monster” Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani today (Thursday) at the Tokyo Dome Hotel in Japan. Both fighters made the customary comment: “I’m in my very best condition physically and mentally, and I will be victorious on Saturday.”
At the press box, a couple of foreign journalists were chatting about the outcome of the historic showdown at Tokyo Dome (with a capacity of 55,000; all tickets already sold out).
They were Mr. I (pro-Inoue from the UK) and Mr. N (pro-Nakatani from the US), who exchanged heated verbal arguments as follows:
I: Inoue must be the pre-fight favorite without doubt. Compare the opponents each has previously fought, and you see Inoue has faced much tougher champions and challengers than Nakatani.
N: Nakatani, however, has tools to defeat the previously unbeaten Inoue—southpaw stance, superior height (three inches taller at 5’8”), reach advantage, plus youth (five years younger at 28). Naoya will have a tough time coping with such a puzzling southpaw as Junto.
I: Naoya is very good at fighting southpaw opponents, as shown in his overwhelming victories over Omar Narváez, Michael Dasmarinas, TJ Doheny, Luis Nery, Marlon Tapales, and Murodjon Akhmadaliev. I don’t think Nakatani has a style that will be difficult for Inoue to solve, and Inoue will catch up with him sooner or later.
N: I think Nakatani’s knockouts were more spectacular than those of Inoue, as shown against Alejandro Santiago, Andrew Moloney, Vincent Astrolabio, and Yusuke Nishida. His “invisible uppercut,” both at mid-range and short range, must be a very dangerous weapon for Inoue if he gets caught. Even Inoue might absorb one and suffer serious damage.
I: Inoue is gifted with superb reflexes and faster footwork, which allow him to avoid taking clean shots at long or mid-range. Naoya has much better defensive skills than Junto, who had a very tough time with Sebastian Hernandez in his last fight.
N: It is Inoue who was dropped by a strong left hook from Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas. Nakatani has not been dropped because of his puzzling style, with his head held high and far from his opponents.
I: No, Inoue showed remarkable recovery after hitting the canvas and impressively finished his opponents. Nakatani should have had at least two more fights in the super bantamweight division and may look skinny and lanky against the more muscular Inoue. I believe Naoya will catch and stop him in the middle rounds.
N: That scenario will not prevail. Instead, it will be Nakatani who makes Inoue taste his first setback, either by an upset decision or a late-round stoppage.
I: Nakatani is an excellent pupil of his long-time trainer Rudy Hernandez, but he lacks the ring intelligence to cope with adversity. Inoue, on the contrary, has an exceptional “brain like a computer” to solve any puzzle during a fight and adjust to difficult moments. That is due to his superior experience against elite opposition.
They continued talking about the outcome of the super fight on Saturday at the press box. Time will tell.
The post Pro-Inoue, Pro-Nakatani Hot Chatting appeared first on FightNews.
