(Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

Junto Nakatani KO 12 Andrew Moloney

Junto Nakatani’s victory had already been sealed as the fight ticked into its final moments. He was well ahead on all three scorecards, and his opponent, Andrew Moloney, was wobbling like a robot on low batteries after 11 tough rounds in which he’d hit the canvas twice. The 12th round was only happening because the proud Moloney had insisted on it, but it was obvious to everyone else at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas that Nakatani, a former flyweight titleholder, was just 22 seconds from owning the WBO junior bantamweight belt.

For much of the round, Nakatani had indeed fought like a man who knew he didn’t have to risk anything, using his long arms to fend off Moloney’s dogged aggression. But letting the judges have the last word was apparently not the plan. With less than half a minute remaining, referee Mark Nelson separated the fighters from a clinch and Nakatani began drifting backward, looking to draw Moloney into position for something big. Knowing he could only reach a miracle by moving forward, Moloney obliged. 

For any fundamentals-minded righty looking to stay outside Nakatani’s front foot and as far from his power hand as possible, the lanky southpaw’s wide stance is a challenge, and intentionally or not, Moloney did what often happens in these battles for chiral supremacy – he stepped ON Nakatani’s front foot. The miniature stutter that happened as he got back on blue ground may have been the cue, for Moloney was now teed up squarely between his opponent’s feet, off-balance in the danger zone, and the Japanese slugger was already dropping into a crouch.

Having tasted so many hellacious uppercuts that night, Moloney probably thought he was being set up for another one when Nakatani started to dip. But from which side? With his right hand, Moloney chopped downward in what seemed like a half-hearted belief that the punch would be coming from over there. Nakatani’s dip had become a sideways bob, however, and his head was now moving toward Moloney’s left hip, so Moloney committed his left hand – and more critically the direction of his gaze – to an attempt at cutting him off. But Nakatani was already too close and too low to hit it with any power, and Moloney had made a horrible misjudgment. 

Nakatani’s uppercut was a dangerous weapon throughout the fight. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

The reality was that Nakatani’s head diving to Moloney’s left was just the counterweight for the overhand bomb that was accelerating inbound from the right. And if Moloney had been thinking “uppercut” when in fact Nakatani had pulled his arm back to strike from above, that first half-hearted attempt to block had accomplished nothing except leaving the Australian’s face, now turned sideways, completely exposed. 

Fighters in Moloney’s fatigued and battered condition will do things a fresher version won’t, and maybe he wouldn’t have fallen for the move earlier in the fight. It could also be argued that Round 12 never should have begun. Nevertheless, Nakatani had played the bait-and-switch perfectly. Upon impact, Moloney was instantly unconscious, collapsing so quickly that it was like the punch had vaporized every ligament in his body. 

Then the scary part started. After honoring his professional responsibility with one of the year’s most unnecessary wave-offs, Nelson urgently knelt beside a panting Moloney and summoned the ringside doctor. More than a full minute passed with the fighter flat on his back before he was able to sit up.

Nakatani (26-0, 19 KOs) would later describe it to BoxingScene as the best knockout of his career. That’s for him to say. All we know is that nobody did it better in 2023. 

RUNNERS-UP:

Brian Mendoza KO 7 Sebastian Fundora – The first loss on Fundora’s career was a doozy. Anything he’s involved in looks more dramatic because of the 154-pounder’s always-extreme height advantage, but the sight of his 6-foot-6 frame being shaken by Mendoza’s booming left hook and then felled by the follow-up was genuinely incredible. 

Adrian Curiel KO 2 Sivenathi Nontshinga – No jab to set it up, no beatdown leading in, just a single right-hand counter that smashed into Nontshinga’s head and put the defending IBF junior flyweight titleholder down for the no-count-needed win, a strong candidate for Upset of the Year.

Zhilei Zhang KO 3 Joe Joyce (rematch) – Zhang won their first fight due to Joyce’s hopelessly swollen eye, but the Chinese southpaw punctuated the rematch with old-fashioned heavyweight power, dropping Joyce with a flush right hand to the face.

Jose Valenzuela KO 6 Chris Colbert – In a rematch of his controversial decision loss earlier in the year, Valenzuela took scorecards out of the equation with a lunging right hook that had Colbert looking over his own shoulder before collapsing into the ropes, out cold.