2-weight champ Jyunjin Nakatani – in the devastated area of LA, where he started out.
Close-up look at his camp for his first defense in the super flyweight division!
Ten years have passed since that day, and Jyunjin Nakatani has won two world titles, the WBO flyweight and super flyweight titles. In particular, his fight on May 20 of this year, in which he won by KO in the final round to win the two weight classes, was held in Las Vegas and was highly acclaimed in the United States, his home country.
Standing on the “land of origin,” Nakatani said.
I went out for road work in the morning, and a few days later, a picture was placed at the spot where I heard the gunshot. I realized, “Oh, the person who was shot died, that’s the gunshot from that time. …… I also saw how people were arrested for using drugs in the neighborhood. South Central is not a good place to be. I felt that it must indeed be a very unsafe place.
But I didn’t have time to think about it being scary or dangerous. I just wanted to be recognized by Rudy, and I was determined to follow him and become strong, and become a world champion.
After signing a contract with Rudy, Nakatani stayed at his father’s house in South Central while learning the basics of boxing.
Road work and two practice sessions were the normal menu,” Nakatani said. I did about 20 rounds of gym work in the morning and in the afternoon. Since I turned pro at the age of 17, I have been emphasizing the quality of my training, but looking back, I feel that it is important to do quantity when you are young and can absorb a lot.
Nakatani’s fighting style reveals his good balance and physical strength. He still spends a great deal of time on core training, and he attributes his robustness to the lessons he absorbed from Rudy.
I am not a strong person to begin with,” he said. It is because I trained hard that I have the body I have today. Rudy also taught me how to defend myself thoroughly. I learned the position of my feet, the position of my head, timing, angles, footwork, and other really detailed techniques. He taught me to keep my head in a position to avoid being hit, to keep my body close to the ground to avoid being punched, to take one step to the side and move in the opposite direction, and so on.
In the late summer of his 15-year old year, when he was a selfless fighter, he sometimes felt homesick. It was Rudy’s father who encouraged Nakatani at that time. That “grandfather” still lives in the same place today.
