RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – In his junior featherweight debut, Junto Nakatani failed to live up to his “Big Bang” ring moniker but scored a 12-round unanimous decision over Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez at the Mohammed Abdo Arena on Saturday. The official scores were 118-110, 115-113 and 115-113.

The Ring agreed with the two 115-113 scorecards. The 118-110 tally was miles away.

Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) ended up in deep with his Mexican opponent, who put on a spirited effort in defeat and made a lot of new fans in the co-main event of 'The Ring V: Night of the Samurai', live on DAZN.

With this fight out of the way, Nakatani clears the path for a projected showdown against the great Naoya Inoue, which is mooted for May 3 at the Tokyo Dome. Inoue beat Mexican slugger Alan Picasso, defending his Ring and undisputed junior featherweight titles, in the main event.

“It was a great match,” said Nakatani during his post-fight interview with DAZN. “Hernandez was a very tough and great fighter. It was a great learning experience for me.

“I was prepared for the match to develop this way and was boxing accordingly. This opponent put up a great fight and it was an opportunity for me to grow.”

Natakani looked dangerous with his southpaw leads from the opening bell. The straight left crashed home and there was one memorable right uppercut in the first minute of the fight. Hernandez pursued behind a high-held guard but appeared spooked and threw nothing of consequence.

The pattern of the fight changed in Round 3 when the Mexican fighter closed the gap and let his hands go. He targeted Nakatani’s mid-section and had significant success in a round that could have gone either way. “Big Bang” matched him and landed a solid left hand at the bell.

As he did against Ryosuke Nishida in his most recent outing, Nakatani was guilty of being too adventurous with his offense. Big uppercuts flew from the floor, but Hernandez was cute enough to avoid them and kept pressing behind a sustained and more compact body attack.

In the closing minute of the sixth, Nakatani moved through the gears and attempted to hurt his man. He planted his feet at ring center and unloaded to body and head. Still Hernandez’s fighting spirit would not be quelled and he fired back bravely until the bell ended the session. The fight was now a fierce battle of attrition.

Clearly told by his corner to use his feet, Nakatani began to locate effective punching angles. He was able to time Hernandez’s raids, score with body shots of his own, and he succeeded in defusing his more aggressive opponent with intelligence.

In the eighth, however, Hernandez again succeeded in drawing the favorite into a firefight. He was busy in this session, but his assaults were slowing down and lacked accuracy. This left openings, which were exploited by Nakatani’s withering counter punching.

The ninth was all-out war, with Nakatani again forced to trade at mid-range. There seemed to be an air of acceptance that he would have to win this way, so the Japanese lefty settled into the task. He could find space intermittently but not for long.

During the championship rounds, Nakatani was sporting considerable swelling around his right eye. Hernandez was put on an incredible display of volume punching in the eleventh and the pound-for-pound star came second in most of the exchanges.

The final round was one of Nakatani’s best of the fight. He moved brilliantly, scored with combinations to the head, and located escape routes regularly. Hernandez stayed in hot pursuit but his work wasn’t as effective as it had been earlier.

Already a three-weight world titleholder and pound-for-pound entrant, Nakatani is pursuing the fight of a lifetime against Inoue. A victory over “The Monster” would take Nakatani’s legacy into the stratosphere and earn him a career-high payday in the process.

Both men have been very respectful of each other and their opponents this week, rarely discussing the projected superfight while this Ring V card was still being promoted. Now everyone in boxing will be discussing a fight that is guaranteed to live up to its billing.

“I changed weight class to fight the world champion,” said a humble Nakatani. “If I get that opportunity, then I will do my best.”

His best will have to be better than it was in this fight.

Hernandez, 25, falls to 20-1 (18 KOs).

CompuBox stats: Nakatani came out guns a’blazing, finding a home for his uppercut, and out-landing Hernandez 142-94 over the first six rounds. Hernandez weathered the storm and found his footing over the second half of the fight, out-throwing Nakatani 568-409, and out-landing Nakatani 179-155 over the last six rounds. One judge inexplicably scored the fight 118-110 for Nakatani while the other two judges scored the fight 115-113 for Nakatani.