Flyweight Early career Nakatani made his professional debut on 26 April 2015, scoring a first-round
technical knockout (TKO) victory over Junichi Itoga at the Industrial Hall in
Gifu, Japan. He would go on to amass a 9–0 record, and was ranked in the flyweight rankings by the JBC following his victory over
Masamichi Yabuki. Nakatani was scheduled to fight Atiwit Munyapho on 19 February 2017, in the opening round of the Japanese flyweight Youth Tournament. He won the fight by a second-round technical knockout. He beat Joel Taduran by a fourth-round technical knockout. Nakatani was knocked down for the 1st time in his career by Yuma Kudo but managed to win the fight by majority decision, before facing
Seigo Yuri Akui in the tournament finals. He beat Akui by a sixth-round technical knockout. He was further named the tournament MVP. Nakatani won his next four fights, before being scheduled to fight Naoki Mochizuki for the vacant Japanese flyweight title. He won the fight by a ninth-round technical knockout. He fought Philip Luis Cuerdo on 1 June 2019, and won the fight by a first-round knockout. On 23 July 2019, Nakatani vacated the Japanese flyweight title. Nakatani was scheduled to fight the former
IBF and
IBO light flyweight champion
Milan Melindo on 5 October 2019. He beat Melindo by a sixth-round technical knockout.
Nakatani vs. Magramo Nakatani was scheduled to fight
Giemel Magramo for the vacant
WBO flyweight title on 6 November 2020 at the
Korakuen Hall. The bout was originally set for April but due to the COVID-19 pandemic was postponed and rescheduled thrice. Nakatani entered the bout as the favorite to win the title. Nakatani dominated the bout, punishing his opponent from range, and landing with more power when Magramo closed in. Nakatani won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout. The referee waved the fight off early on in the round, as Magramo was knocked down with a combination of punches, although Magramo managed to beat the count.
Nakatani vs. Acosta Nakatani was scheduled to make his first title defense against the former WBO
light flyweight champion
Ángel Acosta on 29 May 2021, in his native Japan. Increasingly strict
COVID-19 regulations imposed by the Japanese government and international travel issues forced the postponement of the bout, with Nakatani's management tentatively announcing the fight for late May or early June. On 26 May 2021, WBO scheduled a 1 June purse bid with a minimum offer of $80,000. That purse bid was canceled on 2 June 2021, as an agreement was made that Nakatani’s promoter,
Teiken Promotions, would handle the negotiations. The fight was scheduled for 10 September 2021, in
Tucson, Arizona. Nakatani won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout. Nakatani broke Acosta's nose in the opening round of the bout, and both the referee and the ringside physician warned Acosta that the fight would be stopped if his nose suffered more damage. The fight was finally stopped near the end of the fourth round, at the 2:28 minute mark.
Nakatani vs. Yamauchi Nakatani was booked to make his second WBO flyweight title defense against the reigning WBO Asia Pacific flyweight titleholder
Ryota Yamauchi on 9 April 2022. The bout was scheduled for the undercard of the
Ryōta Murata and
Gennadiy Golovkin middleweight unification bout, and took place at the
Saitama Super Arena in
Saitama, Japan. He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout, forcing referee Katsuhiko Nakamura to stop the bout with a flurry of punches at the 2:20 minute mark. Nakatani was leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with all three judges' having him up 70–63.
Super flyweight Nakatani vs. Rodríguez Jr. Nakatani is going to face the former WBO
super flyweight title challenger
Francisco Rodríguez Jr. in a super flyweight bout on 1 November 2022. The fight took place on the undercard of the
Hiroto Kyoguchi and
Kenshiro Teraji title unification bout. Nakatani officially vacated his WBO flyweight title on 27 October. Nakatani won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 98–91, 97–92 and 99–90. Rodríguez Jr. was deducted a point in the seventh round for landing a low blow.
Nakatani vs. Moloney On 1 January 2023, the reigning
WBO super flyweight champion
Kazuto Ioka was ordered by the sanctioning body to make a mandatory title defense against Nakatani. As Ioka vacated the title on 14 February to pursue a rematch with
Joshua Franco, Nakatani was instead ordered to face
Andrew Moloney for the vacant championship. The fight took place on 20 May 2023, at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas, Nevada. On the night, Nakatani dropped Moloney in the second round with a series of uppercuts. Nakatani scored another knockdown in the eleventh round, before scoring a one-punch knockout in the twelfth round to win the vacant WBO title. The knockout was later voted
The Ring magazine
Knockout of the Year.
WBC Bantamweight Champion Nakatani vs. Santiago Nakatani was scheduled to fight
Alexandro Santiago for the WBC bantamweight title on 24 February 2024. Nakatani won the fight and the championship by TKO in the 6th round.
Nakatani vs. Astrolabio Nakatani was scheduled to make the first defense of his WBC bantamweight title against mandatory challenger
Vincent Astrolabio at
Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on 20 July 2024. Nakatani won the fight and retained his title, by scoring bodyshot TKO in the first round.
Nakatani vs. Sor Chitpattana Nakatani made the second defense of his WBC bantamweight title against
Petch Sor Chitpattana on 14 October 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. He won the fight by a sixth-round technical knockout.
Nakatani vs. Cuellar Nakatani was scheduled to make the third defense of his WBC bantamweight title against David Cuellar Contreras at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on 24 February 2025. Nakatani knocked down Cuellar two times and won the fight by knockout in the third round.
WBC and IBF Bantamweight Championship Unification Holding the WBC bantamweight title, Nakatani faced the IBF bantamweight champion
Ryosuke Nishida in the championship unification in Tokyo, Japan, on 8 June 2025. He won by stoppage when Nishida retired at the end of the sixth round due to an eye injury. On 6 August 2025, Nakatani announced his intention to vacate his bantamweight titles and move up to
super bantamweight.
Super-bantamweight Making his super-bantamweight debut, Nakatani defeated Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision at
Mohammed Abdo Arena in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 27 December 2025.
Nakatani vs. Inoue Nakatani faced off against the
undisputed super-bantamweight champion
Naoya Inoue on 2 May 2026, at the
Tokyo Dome in
Tokyo, Japan. Touted by the writers of the
Associated Press and
Yahoo News as the "biggest fight in Japanese boxing history", Nakatani lost to Inoue via unanimous decision with a scoreline of 116–112, 115–113, 116–112, and was subsequently handed his first loss in professional boxing. It was also reported after that during the fight, Nakatani fractured his left eye socket via an uppercut by Inoue in the 11th round of the fight. ==Professional boxing record==