By Joe Koizumi

Unbeaten 21-year-old southpaw prospect, WBC#3 Junto Nakatani (19-0, 14 KOs), 114.5, made short work of Filipino Philip Luis Cuerdo (11-7-1, 4 KOs), 114.5, with a single body shot at 1:23 into the opening session of a scheduled ten on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Originally scheduled to face Wolf Nakano with his national belt on the line, the challenger failed to appear because of an injury and Cuerdo became an emergency substitute. In an encounter of southpaws, the 5’7” Nakatani connected with a long left to the side of the belly to have the victim on the canvas in agony for the count. Junto, coached by Rudy Hernandez in LA, will be a very bright prospect for us to keep watching.

In a semi-windup, US veteran campaigner residing long here, Charles Bellamy (28-4-2, 18 KOs), 147.5, lost a hairline but unanimous nod (77-76, 77-75, 78-74) to elongated Yuto Shimizu (13-4-2, 5 KOs), 150.75, over a sizzling eight. Bellamy had eked out a split verdict in their first encounter last September, but it was Shimizu’s night this time to avenge his previous defeat.