Imagine the worst situation”…Close to Naoya Inoue! Junjin Nakatani, challenging for the 3rd bantam title, “The difference between a monster and a monster”.

Former WBO super flyweight champion Jyunjin Nakatani turned 26 on January 2, 2012. He will vacate his second world title and challenge WBC bantamweight champion Alexandro Santiago (27) for a three-weight championship on February 24, 2012.

He has been camping for a month since January 4 in LA, USA, where he originated. The menu is the same as before, with fists exchanged with various types on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Before his defense last September 18, he stayed there from July 20 to September 2, sparring 236 rounds.

This time, I decided to return to Japan almost three weeks before the fight in order to avoid jet lag and to prepare for the conditions,” Rudy advised. Rudy advised me to do so. The camp was shorter than usual, but we sparred intensely.

Rudy Hernandez (61), who has trained Nakatani since he was 15 years old, trained his own brother, the late Genaro, to become a world champion and has coached top Japanese fighters such as Takehara Shinji, Hatayama Takanori, Ito Masayuki, and Nakazato Shuma.

On January 13, Nakatani sparred four rounds at the Jackrabbit Boxing Academy, which stands in Long Beach, 37 km south of downtown LA. Nakatani was fast from the first round and showed a fine series of strikes. Once away from his partner, Nakatani utilized his long reach to land a jab and then an up-and-down one-two, and in the second round he used a lot of back-and-forth stepping and landed a sharp straight to the body.

In the next round, he lowered his center of gravity and changed his head position intermittently. It was apparent that he was envisioning a matchup with the shorter, Santiago. In the fourth round, he occasionally lowered his guard to entice his opponent and landed a jab, a right hook, two jabs to the straight, and a straight to the chest.

Fast.”

This is the third time the author has covered Nakatani’s U.S. camp, and he feels faster than ever.