Junto Nakatani got the decision over Sebastian Hernandez after twelve hard rounds, and at least one judge handed in a 118–110 card. That number matters more than the win itself. It tells you how far apart reality and official scoring still are at world level.
I had Nakatani losing the fight. Not by a mile. But clearly close enough that the idea of him winning ten or eleven rounds is a disgrace to the craft. This was not a clean showcase. It was a pressure fight where the favourite got leaned on, slowed down, and walked backwards far more than his reputation suggests.
The pressure told a different story
From the opening rounds, Nakatani did what he’s supposed to do. Long left hand, height used properly, uppercuts through the middle. Early control. But by the middle rounds, Sebastian Hernandez had figured out the rhythm. He wasn’t outboxing Nakatani. He was walking him down, touching the body, forcing him to stand his ground longer than he wanted.
That’s where the fight turned. Nakatani stopped gliding and started planting. His feet slowed. His shots came in singles. Hernandez, meanwhile, kept throwing in volume, not clean enough to dominate but persistent enough to shift momentum. The optics changed. The crowd felt it. So did the judges, at least two of them.
From rounds seven through eleven, Nakatani spent too much time with his back near the ropes, answering pressure instead of dictating pace. He still landed the cleaner shots, but he wasn’t in control. That matters at this level.
The scorecard that broke the spell
115-113 twice is ok, but the 118–110 card erased everything that actually made the fight interesting. It pretended the second half didn’t exist. That’s the kind of score that tells fighters not to take risks and tells contenders that pressure doesn’t pay.
Hernandez didn’t win the fight. But he won enough rounds to make it uncomfortable, and he exposed something real: Nakatani doesn’t love being walked down by someone who won’t respect his power. He can box going backward, but he doesn’t punish pressure the way elite champions do.
This wasn’t about damage. It was about control. And for long stretches, Nakatani didn’t have it.