Three judges had read the script that had been written ahead of 2026. The fight so many in boxing wanted, between Junto Nakatani and Naoya Inoue, stayed alive courtesy of one of the year’s worst scorecards in a fight that was on course to be both an Upset of the Year and a Fight of the Year contender.
Instead, an all-action war will be remembered for one particularly horrendous scorecard that dramatically short-changed Mexican challenger Sebastian Hernandez against the unanimously victorious Junto Nakatani.
The courageous and seemingly unstoppable Hernandez had not read any such script as he constantly bombed forward, hacked away with both hands and left Nakatani a swollen mess by the bout's conclusion.
But, in the end, Nakatani had done enough to win on all three scorecards by two margins of 115-113 (Gary Kitanoski and Mike Hayel) which were more understandable than the 118-110 card of Nawaf Almohaimeed – which was simply outrageous and should be investigated.
Even the other two in the Japanese star’s favor were rough on Hernandez, but for one judge to give the Mexican just two of the 12 rounds.
To paraphrase old fight manager Joe Jacobs, Hernandez “should have stood in bed.”
What was the point ploughing forward without stopping – while landing what looked like scoring blow after scoring blow – for all 12 rounds only for his work to be ridiculed by an official who will likely never have to explain how he came to that bizarre conclusion?
“I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to fight in Saudi Arabia, it was a great match,” said Nakatani. “He was a great, tough fighter and it was a great learning experience for me and I’m grateful for that. Thank you.”
He certainly gave Hernandez more credit than the officials, and his face told a different story to the lopsided card. That’s not always emblematic of what’s transpired, but it was a fair indicator in Riyadh.
Nakatani and Hernandez boxed as the co-main to Inoue’s fight with Alan Picasso with Nakatani making his debut at 122lbs.
The overwhelming favorite landed an early straight left and a right uppercut that jolted Hernandez’s head upwards and proceedings appeared to be a formality.
The Mexican kept his hands high, trying to minimise the Japanese fighter’s effectiveness and making him look for openings.
Nakatani used his footwork to frustrate Hernandez in the second and then, with Hernandez in pursuit, Junto surprised him with a couple of heavy shots.
Nakatani looked composed and controlled, and he’d started to work the body more, too.
Hernandez’s corner called for him to be focused, to not buy the faints Nakatani used, and to cut the ring off.
Nakatani put some real distance between himself and Hernandez in the third, with a right uppercut arguably the pick of the shots.
It was Nakatani’s work to the body and with that lead uppercut that particularly caught the eye, but in the fourth the Mexican made things more physical, using his size in a more deliberate attempt to march the red-hot favorite backward.
Hernandez was bullish in the fifth. Either he was rolling the dice or growing in confidence, because he was barging forward near the end of the session and forcing Nakatani to work with his back to the ropes.
Hernandez started the sixth in the same manner and he was assuredly escorting Nakatani into the trenches. Sure, he was taking shots in return but nothing Nakatani threw deterred him. And Nakatani ate a big right hand at the bell, too.
Nakatani worked off the back foot in the seventh, doing what he could to avoid having to fight fire with fire, but Hernandez nagged him to battle back, pestering him with uppercuts and hooks and then – through his stubborn pressure – nullifying Nakatani’s footwork and forcing him to stand and fight.
It was not the contest Nakatani wanted, and it was Hernandez’s only way of winning.
Nakatani would start the round trying to create distance between them, but there was only so long he could keep Hernandez at bay before the marauding Mexican came calling.
Again and again, Hernandez planted his feet, forced Nakatani to the ropes, and he crashed away with both hands. He didn’t stop, and he caught Nakatani with left hook in the eighth.
Nakatani had occasional moments. It was not all one way. But Hernandez’s brute force and volume had to be winning rounds.
“No need to engage,” Rudy Hernandez warned Nakatani between rounds.
But the pace was merciless in the ninth, one of the most action-packed rounds of 2025, and Hernandez cracked Nakatani with a flurry of blows near the bell.
For all of the stakeholders praying for the superfight between Nakatani and Inoue next year, their hearts must have been in their mouths.
Hernandez had not only seemingly done more and thrown more, but he appeared to have more left in the tank going into the 10th.
Nakatani moved defiantly well in the next, keeping some distance and making Hernandez move into harm’s way several times while scoring to the body (something Nakatani did less of as the fight wore on) and with his sharp uppercuts, but it was gruelling, thrilling stuff.
Hernandez just wanted to stand in the proverbial phonebox and bang. Nakatani didn’t want to do that but he was obliging him.
It was an aging fight for Nakatani.
The Mexican chugged forward and all but jogged after the heavy favorite when the Japanese fighter tried to back-peddle.
The spite Nakatani had shown at 118lbs looked absent and that was to the Mexican’s immense credit. He wouldn’t be denied. By this point, there was an ugly bulge around Nakatani’s right eye, too, and he simply couldn’t keep Hernandez off him, stop him in his tracks and he certainly couldn’t hurt him.
Hernandez was a man possessed.
But, despite his exhaustive efforts, he had not done enough to convince a solitary judge that he had done enough.
He accepted the defeat with a stoic grace but lost for the first time to fall to 20-1 (18 KOs).
Nakatani is now 31-1 (24 KOs) and he was boxing for just the third time outside of Japan.
