Maxboxing 2023 Knockout of the Year

Guys, there were many knockouts to consider in 2023. The honor of selecting the best goes to Maxboxing.com Editor-in-Chief, John Raspanti. He selected Nakatani’s electrifying KO. I agree.

Most boxing fans – and many humans, love KO’s. Hey. I certainly appreciate seeing a great defensive fighter embody the “Sweet Science.” But there’s nothing so final in all of sports as the legendary KO. From Jack Johnson, to George Foreman, from Manny Pacquiao to Homicide Hank, from terrifying Sonny Liston to Scientific Lennox Lewis – and everyone, men, and women alike, in between, - the knockout is the real walk-off event.

A knockout or TKO leaves no doubts. No questionable cards. No bad calls – such as have substantially damaged football, and particularly the NBA. With replay, we can only shake our heads when an umpire says a blazing fastball is outside the zone – when clearly it’s a strike. Not so with a knockout. The event is over, done.

Recap: Junto Nakatani doesn’t weigh much, and honestly, I’m not a big fan of dudes below Featherweight, 126 pounds. I know, bad on me. But Junto Nakatani hits so hard at Bantamweight, he’s made me a believer. The dude may be Japan’s next Monster, though he’s a southpaw, huge at 5’11” for a Bantam, and well, different than countryman Inoue.

Rounds 1-3 belonged to the tall, left-handed Nakatani, whose use of angles borders on incredible. Nakatani knocked Moloney down heavily in the second. 

Nakatani has that intangible; boxing guts. Moloney’s headbutt in round 3 looked deliberate to me – and I don’t care who calls me crazy. A bad deep cut, but not in a terrible spot, Nakatani laughed when it appeared.

As Tim Bradley noted, Nakatani is a genius at positioning his lanky, unlikely boxing body, so he just about disables an opponent’s offense. Weird. But effective.

Above all, Nakatani can hit, Jack. Undefeated at 26-0 – a guy with this much skill, topped with tremendous power – the full package. He’s not as fast as Inoue, but his future is bright.

Rounds 4-6: More class from Nakatani. Moloney had some brief moments, but they weren’t effective. Disregard phony punch states; Nakatani won all these rounds.

Rounds 7-9: An excellent fight with something for everyone - offense, defense, angles – so long as you were pulling for Nakatani. Whatever moments Moloney had were gone by round 9, after which Nakatani beat him down.

10-12. All Nakatani in ten, and in round 11, Moloney was down from a brilliant fake right jab followed by a huge, arrow straight left, from the man from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. Classy fighter.

20-20 hindsight tells us Moloney’s corner, who threatened to stop it before round 12, should have. In round 12, below, one of the most devastating knockouts you’ll ever see at any weight. Nakatani seems to be moving back before throwing two light right jabs, ducking his head low to the right, off the line, and then coming with a huge, looping left. Not really a hook, some hybrid thing cooked up in an evil laboratory. Yikes.

The medical response was horrible; and much too slow. Thank God Moloney is okay. The KO is at 1:19.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSvIuUVB2Yw&t=39s

And that’s the Maxboxing.com knockout of the year!