Nakatani and Mochizuki battle for Japanese title!

On February 2nd we'll see a new Japanese Flyweight champion being crowned, as the unbeaten Junto Nakatani (17-0, 12) battles the underrated Naoki Mochizuki (15-3, 8). The bout is to fill a void left by former champion Masayuki Kuroda, who will be focusing on a world title fight. For Nakatani the bout is his first for a senior title, after having held the Japanese Youth Flyweight title, whilst Mochizuki will be hoping to put the disappointment of a loss in a regional title fight behind him. The bout will be held as the chief support bout for the upcoming Dynamic Glove show at the Korakuen Hall, and will share a card with the return of Kenichi Ogawa and the second professional bout of Mikito Nakano.
 
Over the last few years we've seen fans getting really excited about Nakatani, a hard hitting youngster who won the All Japan Rookie of the Year in 2016 before winning the Japanese Youth title in 2017, when he stopped Seigo Yuri Akui. 
 
At 21 years old Nakatani is seen as part of the future of Japanese boxing, and Japanese TV channel G+ have shown a number of his recent buts as they look to develop him into someone that fans are aware of, before he begins to fight at a higher level.
 
In the ring Nakatani is an aggressive boxer-puncher, who has shown and ability to box and move as well as being able to apply pressure and break opponents down on the inside. He's a very solid puncher, and his wiry frame is likely to out grow the Flyweight division in the years to come, however at the moment his body hasn't really matured and he still resembles a young kid, though a kid who can clearly punch. Added to his speed and power is the fact he's a southpaw, giving opponents extra problems and is very capable of fighting on the inside, and using his size up close.
 
Mochizuki on the other hand hasn't received the plaudits of Nakatani, but the 24 year old shouldn't be written on that basis. In fact if anything the Yokohama man is more likely to be out there with a point to prove, and he's been unlucky in a number of his defeats already.
 
Debuting in 2013 Mochizuki would compete in the Rookie of the Year in 2014, losing to Sonin Nihei in the East Japan semi-final. He would string together a number of low key wins after that before upsetting Yusuke Sakashita in late 2016. Sadly for Mochizuki that win was quickly forgotten when he lost 3 months later to Keisuke Nakayama, who would later go on to claim the OPBF Flyweight title. Since then he has gone 4-1, with his only loss being a very competitive one to Eaktwan BTU Ruaviking in a regional title bout.
 
As a fighter Mochizuki is aggressive, he comes forward, he throws a lot and applies a lot of pressure. That's not always educated pressure though and he does press the action in a way that a good fighter could counter, in fact that's what we saw when he struggled past domestic foe Hideyuki Watanabe last year.
 
It's fair to assume that Mochizuki's aggression will see him looking to take the fight to Nakatani early on, but Nakatani can handle that, and can fight on the inside, breaking Mochizuki down with the heavy shots. If he wants to box and move Nakatani has the skills to do that, but it seems more likely that he will go to war with Mochizuki and win an inside war, as he did against Akui.

---