As the world awaits, Junto Nakatani sticks to business as usual

As tempting as it is to anticipate being a headliner in a sporting event that will captivate his nation’s attention, Junto Nakatani’s trainer Rudy Hernandez insists he is locked in on the task at hand.

It was formally announced last week that unbeaten three-division titleholder Nakatani, 29-0 (22 KOs), will defend his WBC bantamweight belt against Mexico’s David Cuellar, 28-0 (18 KOs), on February 24 in Tokyo.

Some would refer to the bout as a “stay-busy” fight against the WBC’s No. 6 ranked contender, who against Nakatani will fight over a scheduled 12 rounds for the first time, as Nakatani heads to a planned showdown with unbeaten and undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue around the end of 2025.

“We never go into this thinking, ‘We got this,’” Hernandez said. “Junto takes great pride in being a world champion, and [the Cuellar fight] is a title defense that he will be fully ready for because everybody wants to be a world champion. He knows he’s in with a good fighter with a good amount of knockouts. We don’t take anybody lightly.”

Nakatani’s U.S. promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, told BoxingScene Monday that it’s possible Nakatani will appear on the same late-spring card planned for May or June in Las Vegas and expected to be headlined by Inoue’s 122-pound title defense against Mexico’s Alan David Picasso, the WBC’s top-ranked contender.

Inoue first returns to the ring on January 24 in Tokyo, defending his belts in a postponed match against IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman.

Arum said Monday that it’s possible Inoue will fight for a third time in 2025 in Saudi Arabia against his WBA mandatory challenger, Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev, as long as no unforeseen injuries occur.

After that, either in late 2025 or at the beginning of 2026, comes the Nakatani bout, Arum said.

“We will be ready for everybody and anybody who shows up,” Hernandez said.

The trainer knows finding an opponent for Nakatani is not a simple task because of the champion’s immense skill.

“Nobody wants to fight Junto – they either out-price themselves or don’t want the risk,” Hernandez said. “We want to fight. Junto is always training and ready. When the promoter calls and tells us we have a fight, we’ll be there. If I had my choice, we’d be fighting Naoya Inoue next.”

Naktani arrives for his Los Angeles-based training on January 7.

“The progress we’re making is leading us to the Inoue fight,” Hernandez said. “In my opinion, [Inoue] is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. If that fight gets made, my hope is we win and win big so Junto is seen as he should be – as one of the great Japanese fighters of all time.

“He’s already a three-division champion, and from what I’m seeing, we’re about to see the best Junto we’ve ever seen in 2025 with these fights lined up the way they are.”

Until then, Hernandez points to Bruno Surace’s recent upset knockout of super middleweight title challenger Jaime Munguia as the proof of why it’s imperative to focus on the fighter next on the schedule. 

“I know there’s talk of all of this, but our focus is David Cuellar,” Hernandez said. “My guy never underestimates you, knowing the ‘stay-busy’ fighter can be the guy who beats you. So we have to work and get ready because if we don’t get past Cuellar, we’ll never get to Inoue.”