Junto Nakatani v Ramon Cardenas verbally agreed, likely for early 2027, promoter says
Sampson Lewkowicz says the fight will likely happen in the first quarter of next year. Cardenas, who dropped Naoya Inoue in 2025, sparred 99 rounds with Nakatani last year.
Post by @ringmagazine on X
Junto Nakatani v Ramon Cardenas has been verbally agreed and will likely take place in the first quarter of 2027, Cardenas' promoter Sampson Lewkowicz has told The Ring.
The fight has not been officially announced, and no date or venue has been named. Lewkowicz confirmed at the WBC convention that Cardenas had reached a deal with Nakatani's promoter, Akihiko Honda, according to EverythingBoxing's Darshan Desai.
The two know each other well. Cardenas was Nakatani's chief sparring partner in Los Angeles before Nakatani's points win over Sebastian Hernandez in Riyadh last December. "I know that Junto and I sparred exactly 99 rounds because everything was documented," Cardenas told The Ring in April. "I would say we were sparring at about 50 percent of our abilities."
Both men have shared a ring with Naoya Inoue. Cardenas dropped Inoue with a counter in the second round of their fight in May 2025 before he was stopped in the eighth. Nakatani (32-1, 24 KOs) suffered the first defeat of his career when Inoue beat him at the Tokyo Dome on 2 May.
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