I want to fight Takuma Inoue!” Jyunjin Nakatani, “the man who chases after monsters,” looks back on his “three-weight championship with a smile on his face.”

Before heading into the second round, Nakatani scooted up to his corner.

‘I stood up too soon, so I tried to sit down again. But Rudy had already pulled a chair out for me, and he said something like, ‘You’re not tired yet, so that’s good,’ so I laughed.”

The 172-centimeter-tall challenger kept his distance and did not allow the 159-centimeter champion to get too close. Santiago managed to get into the challenger’s pocket, but was at the mercy of Nakatani’s footwork. The challenger’s backstep shone through.

The Mexican closed the distance between him and his opponent, and after five, six, seven, the Mexican grabbed the world title while dominating with his hands, he was losing his ability to accomplish.

Nakatani, on the other hand, controlled the ring more and more as he had imagined, showing the results of his accumulated training. One of the keys to a fight between Nakatani, a southpaw, and Santiago, an orthodox fighter (right stance), is whether or not Nakatani can get his front foot to the outside. The position on the outside is definitely more advantageous. Nakatani did not give in this time.

I was able to get a very good position. I really enjoyed the competition. I pushed hard in practice, so I was able to stay calm and relaxed during the race.

Nakatani spent a month training in LA from January 4 under the tutelage of Rudy Hernandez. For Nakatani, a month-long training camp is shorter than usual. However, he sparred hard, including 10 rounds of 5 minutes, 17 rounds of 3 minutes, and so on.

Rudy, who had helped his younger brother Genaro win the world title and coached top Japanese fighters such as Shinji Takehara, Takanori Hatayama, Masayuki Ito, and Shuma Nakazato, declared that Jyunjin Nakatani was his masterpiece, and gave him a tough menu, telling him to squeeze every ounce of his still dormant ability.

Nakatani, who cut his teeth in camp, feels that the games are easier because of the hardships he overcame.

He says, “I feel like I have more mental leeway after going through that kind of menu, and I’m able to concentrate on each round. It made me think, ‘Twelve rounds is too short.

At the end of the fourth round, the scores were announced, and each of the three judges gave Nakatani a 40-36 lead.

When I heard the point difference, Rudy advised me to hit four or five combinations if I thought I had a chance.

Heeding his mentor’s advice, Nakatani increased the variety of his attacks in the fifth round, and clearly had his mind set on a knockout.

He showed signs of not liking my jabs, so I couldn’t come out. When I did hit him, I hit him once or twice. I wasn’t in a position to throw a lot of punches, so I wasn’t worried.

Then, at 38 seconds of the sixth round, the challenger landed a straight left hand. The challenger’s straight left hand hit Santiago clean on the jaw, and the champion collapsed to the canvas from the waist down. Nakatani recalls.

Rudy told me, ‘Keep your upright stance and hit him with one-two, one-two! So I followed his instructions. I had repeated this in camp, and when I did it as I had practiced, I fell down (laughs). (Laughs.) I didn’t get that good of a response. But I was very relaxed and could hit. It was a throwable punch.”

He calmly listened to his second’s voice and finished his prey.

After I went down, I looked at the corner and Rudy said, ‘Wait a little longer. So, I threw a jab to see what would happen, and Santiago got scared, so I knew he had lost his mind. So I hit him with a one-two, and when he was off-balance, I threw another one-two, a hook, and after a pause, a hook. I was only aiming for the center, so I was able to smoothly attack from the outside, from the side.

The bout ended with a right hook that sent the champion sinking again, and his corner called for the bout to be abandoned.