Junto Nakatani began as he meant to go on.

A furious start, aggressive middle and injury-inducing end saw Ryosuke Nishida depart the ring battered and bruised, while the Naoya Inoue superfight remains viable for 2026 after Nakatani unified the WBC, IBF bantamweight world titles and claimed the vacant Ring strap at 118-pounds in a fiery battle between unbeaten champions in the Ariake Colosseum, Japan.

Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs) was a clear favourite given his pedigree and heralded punch power, while Nishida (10-1, 2 KOs) deemed this a battle between "Big Bang" and the "Black Hole" in an entertaining champion vs. champion matchup. There was only one winner.

Their unification began at a frantic pace that couldn't be sustained, Nakatani whipping uppercuts, ripping hooks and cuffing shots wherever possible at close-range.

He punched in twos and threes, Nishida firing back with a good body shot though the pre-fight favourite responded aggressively, almost offended he was being tagged that much.

Two big left hands connected flush with a minute left in the second were Junto's calling card and you could sense Nishida needed to do something differently, otherwise trading would see this contest stopped in the second-half.

A series of uppercuts flowed through the WBC champion's fists as he tried piercing Nishida's guard, though his trainer Rudy Hernandez urged his charge to switch it up as his fellow titleholder was starting to expect that mode of attack through six minutes.

Nakatani exploded forward with leaping right hooks in the third, Nishida's deceptive punch power was keeping him honest but as time wore on, so did their difference in noteworthy output.

Nishida was punching with him in the fourth, though the crowd's chants for the underdog were silenced by a big left hand. Unloading in the fifth, Nishida's right eye was quickly closing and after a brief doctor's assessment, Nakatani returned directly to the target moments later with more looping haymakers - which was again the theme in a fiery sixth, the IBF champion's face bruised and his defences being breached with more of the same.

Nakatani's smile between rounds felt ominous.

Meanwhile in the evening's chief support bout, surging contender Tenshin Nasukawa (7-0, 2 KOs) apologised for not getting the knockout, but rarely looked in trouble en route to an impressive decision win (99-91, 99-91, 100-90) over Victor Santillan (14-2, 5 KOs).

The 26-year-old, who outpointed former WBO world bantamweight champion Jason Moloney in February, banked another impressive ten rounds where his left hand couldn't miss and the bloodied cut above his left eye was evidence of another competitive clash he dearly needed.

"What I learned tonight is that not everything will always go my way," Nasukawa said through a translator, as he steadily increases his levels of resistance

Currently the No. 1-ranked contender by the WBC and No. 2 with WBA and WBO, a potential matchup with champion Yoshiki Takei (11-0, 9 KOs) remains a possibility after they faced off in the ring earlier this year. It will not be next