On a historic night for Japanese boxing, Junto Nakatani scored one of the most impressive wins of his career to become a three-weight champ.

Nakatani (27-0, 20 knockouts) stalked, cut and finally stopped Mexico’s Alexandro Santiago (28-4-5, 14 KOs) in the sixth round to grab his WBC bantamweight belt in impressive fashion at the Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Junto Nakatani, the winner of the 2023 KO of the Year, scored another thrilling stoppage against veteran Alejandro Santiago. Photo Naoki Fukuda / Top Rank

A 5’7’’ southpaw with impressive power and skills, Nakatani was no match for the shorter and bulkier Santiago, who had lifted the belt from Filipino legend Nonito Donaire in his previous outing and was attempting to defend it for the first time.

The 26-year-old Nakatani, rated at No. 2 by The Ring at junior bantamweight going in, kept Santiago at the end of his long jab from the very beginning of the fight, launching the occasional left cross to keep him at bay while exhibiting exquisite footwork and mobility.

The 28-year-old Santiago, rated at No. 3 by The Ring at bantamweight, was cut at the end of the third round, and it was all downhill from there on. Nakatani started firing for effect with both hands after that, and early in the sixth round he caught Santiago with a crushing one-two that sent the Mexican champ to the canvas on his back. Santiago beat the count on wobbly legs, and Nakatani launched an onslaught on a corner that ended with the now former champ back again on the canvas after a demolishing combination.

THE HIGHLIGHT REEL KING 🍿@BoxerJunto | #AndNew pic.twitter.com/H5SAvqFSmA

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) February 24, 2024

Referee Laurence Cole called a halt to the action at the 1.12 mark of the sixth round.

With the win, Nakatani adds the WBC bantamweight belt to his previous WBO flyweight and junior bantamweight trinkets.

Diego M. Morilla has written for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.

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