Vincent Astrolabio (left) and Junto Nakatani (right). | Facebook photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Vincent “Asero” Astrolabio gets another world title shot, this time it’s against one of Japan’s best boxers, Junto Nakatani, on July 20 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
This was confirmed by Astrolabio’s promoter and manager Sean Gibbons and was posted on Viva Promotions’ Facebook page on Wednesday, May 15.
His Japan fight will be Astrolabio’s second world title shot after faltering in his first in May 2023.
READ: Astrolabio challenges 3-division world champion Nakatani of Japan
Astrolabio vs Maloney
The 27-year-old Astrolabio, a General Santos City native, fought former Jason Moloney of Australia who was the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) world bantamweight champion at that time.
READ: Jason Moloney beats Vincent Astrolabio via majority decision in WBO title fight
They fought in the United States with Moloney emerging as the winner by unanimous decision.
Astrolabio bounced back three months later by defeating Thai Navapon Khaikanha in their World Boxing Council (WBC) world bantamweight title eliminator by an 11th-round technical knockout (TKO) in Bangkok, Thailand.
READ: Vincent Astrolabio, Thai opponent ready for WBC title eliminator showdown on Saturday
He then earned a world title shot for Nakatani’s WBC world bantamweight strap which the latter snatched from erstwhile champion Alexandro Santiago last February in Tokyo, Japan.
One of Japan’s brightest
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Nakatani is one of Japan’s brightest boxing stars alongside Naoya Inoue.
Nakatani is a three-division world champion being a former super flyweight and flyweight world champion.
He remains unbeaten in 27 fights with 20 knockouts. Nakatani is very familiar with fighting Filipino ring warriors. He fought and beat Giemel Magramo, Milan Melindo, Dexter Alimento, Jeronil Borres, and Joel Taduran.