{"id":34203,"date":"2021-09-10T07:01:28","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T07:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/?p=34203"},"modified":"2021-09-10T07:01:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T07:01:28","slug":"predictions-valdez-conceicao-and-nakatani-acosta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/?p=34203","title":{"rendered":"Predictions: Valdez-Conceicao and Nakatani-Acosta"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>Photo by Mikey Williams\/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Top Rank is back with two world title fights Friday on ESPN+.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div data-anthem-component=\"actionbox\" data-anthem-component-data='{\"title\":\"&lt;a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"http:\/\/go.web.plus.espn.com\/KexZOz\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;Watch Valdez-Conceicao live and exclusively on ESPN+!&lt;\/a&gt;\",\"description\":\"Top Rank is back with two world title fights and much more TONIGHT on ESPN+! Sign up now!\",\"label\":\"Sign up for ESPN+!\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/go.web.plus.espn.com\/KexZOz\"}'><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h1>Junto Nakatani vs Angel Acosta<\/h1>\n<h3>Scott Christ (46-14)<\/h3>\n<p>Nakatani has some real star potential as a young flyweight titlist and top fighter at the weight, and I love this matchup, this could be fun. Acosta went the distance for the first time in his pro career last time out, going a full eight with Gilberto Mendoza in March. If it had been 10 or 12 maybe that doesn\u2019t happen, but now Acosta has 22 wins with 21 stoppages, and both of his losses were by stoppage.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, Acosta is an all-or-nothing sort of fighter. He has some skills, but his bread and butter is power. Nakatani can crack, too, and I think is the clearly more all-around skilled fighter, and will have natural height and reach advantages. But I\u2019m gonna pick the minor upset just for the hell of it; Acosta can catch anyone and hurt them, and Junto is still a little green in there, still makes some mistakes, and hasn\u2019t had to battle much adversity just yet. Give me an Acosta breakthrough in a fight Nakatani is winning. <strong>Acosta TKO-7<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Wil Esco (48-12)<\/h3>\n<p>I can\u2019t help but feel that this fight in particular could turn out to be a really fun one to watch but I am still very much leaning towards the younger Nakantani in this outing. Acosta is a pretty good fighter but one that seems to have a clear ceiling, and now as a 30-year-old flyweight facing a \u2018young hungry lion\u2019 I think it will be just too much to bear. I do think Nakantani has a clear ceiling as well, but in this match-up I think Nakatani\u2019s is simply higher than Acosta\u2019s. As I anticipate some fun exchanges early in the fight things could quickly heat up, but I think Nakatani will start to impose himself within a few rounds and look to put a stamp on things by forcing the referee to step in to halt the fight. I\u2019m taking Nakatani to win a late round stoppage. <strong>Nakatani TKO-10<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Patrick L. Stumberg (49-11)<\/h3>\n<p>I get that there\u2019s no functional difference between the main card and the undercard when they air back-to-back on the same platform, but marketing this fight as a prelim still baffles me. You\u2019ve got an extremely promising and hugely entertaining young talent facing one of the purest punchers in the lower weight classes and you\u2019ve got Gabe Flores as the co-feature? C\u2019mon, man.<\/p>\n<p>Acosta is exactly the sort of challenge I want to see Nakatani face at this point. As dominant and star-making as his beatdown of Giemel Magramo was, the still-green Nakatani showed some potentially worrying defensive issues, primarily a clear vulnerability to right hands. He ultimately managed to overwhelm Magramo on the inside through craft, durability, and raw firepower, but it remains to be seen whether he can mix it up with a slugger of Acosta\u2019s caliber. \u201dTito\u2019s\u201d got some understated technical skills as well, so he\u2019s ostensibly more able to land potentially game-changing shots against his younger foe.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I have to favor Nakatani. Acosta seems more amenable to fighting at mid-range than the phonebooth-happy Magramo, and Nakatani is a nightmare at that distance. Nakatani\u2019s height, reach, and combination punching give him a clear edge there, and even if Acosta does manage to bull his way inside, Nakatani\u2019s fearsome body attack and sneaky uppercuts are potent weapons. Nakatani breaks him down in a firefight to score a late stoppage. <strong>Nakatani TKO-10<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>And the staff winner is&#8230;<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"Oscar Valdez v Robson Concei\u00e7\u00e3o - Weigh-in\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1235150106.jpg\"><cite>Photo by Mikey Williams\/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<h3>Junto Nakatani (2-1)!<\/h3>\n<h1>Oscar Valdez vs Robson Conceicao<\/h1>\n<h3>Scott Christ (46-14)<\/h3>\n<p>Conceicao is a former Olympic gold medalist and will probably have an unexpected amount of people rooting for him in this fight, what with Valdez failing the drug test but being allowed to fight anyway because, let\u2019s be honest, boxing is just not going to start taking drug testing seriously no matter much big talk there is, how many nicely-worded press releases there are, how many money-grabbers declare themselves serious about combating the problem. If the people who matter don\u2019t want it to be a real problem, <em>even with a failed test<\/em>, then it just isn\u2019t going to be.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, I don\u2019t think Conceicao has much chance here. He has spent nearly five years of his professional career avoiding any sincere challenges in order to get to this moment. Maybe he sees it as protecting his record and his body until the time is right. Maybe he sees it as a cash-out; not saying he\u2019s coming to lose, I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll give his best, but he might be more OK with losing than most in his spot would be if he gets the sense he can\u2019t win once in there.<\/p>\n<p>Valdez is a good boxer, a good puncher, looked great last time out \u2014 better than he had in quite a few fights, in fact, really probably better than ever. Makes you think! But don\u2019t bother thinking too hard, because ain\u2019t much gonna happen about it. I think Conceicao basically concedes somewhere around the 8th or 9th and looks to carry through to the distance in a clear loss. Would be happy to be wrong. <strong>Valdez UD-12<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Wil Esco (48-12)<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019m certainly not going to make excuses for Oscar Valdez testing dirty for a banned substance but since this fight is going ahead anyway, I\u2019m just going to skip straight to the point by picking Valdez to successfully defend his title simply because he\u2019s a much more talented fighter. At one point Valdez seemed have a penchant for letting his heart get the better of him in the sense that he would be warring it out almost too much of the time, but since he\u2019s linked up with Team Canelo I do see him as an improved fighter (even if you do question their camp\u2019s integrity). For Conceicao, I\u2019m plenty confident he\u2019ll come to give it a go but I think Valdez is eventually going to start lighting him up en route to a stoppage. <strong>Valdez TKO-9<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Patrick L. Stumberg (49-11)<\/h3>\n<p>It really is a shame that Conceicao lacks punching power; he\u2019s a very fun offensive technician to watch in action, offering the sort of high-volume attack that you wouldn\u2019t expect to see from someone with his amateur credentials. Unfortunately, the same thing that makes him watchable will prove his undoing here; he\u2019s just too willing to trade leather on the inside, compromising his height and reach in the process. It got him dropped hard by Louie Coria and it figures to get him thumped by an experienced and dangerous bruiser in Valdez, especially since he\u2019s seemingly rediscovered his power. Whether or not you buy Miguel Berchelt\u2019s claims that he was weight-drained, \u201cEl Alacran\u201d made a career of walking through nasty punchers and Valdez demolished him.<\/p>\n<p>Though it wouldn\u2019t be too terribly shocking to see him drop the knockdown-prone Valdez at least once, Conceicao had best hope that Valdez\u2019s drug test issues lead to a Whyte-Wach situation where the champ enters in terrible shape. If that\u2019s not the case, Valdez is too professionally seasoned and too big a hitter for Conceicao to repeat his victory in the amateurs. Valdez\u2019s experience in deep waters carry him to a highly entertaining finish in the latter half of the fight. <strong>Valdez TKO-8<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>And the staff winner is&#8230;<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"e-image\"><img alt=\"Oscar Valdez v Robson Concei\u00e7\u00e3o - Press Conference\" data-mask-text=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1235127790.jpg\"><cite>Photo by Mikey Williams\/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images<\/cite><br \/>\n  <\/figure>\n<h3>Oscar Valdez (3-0)!<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Mikey Williams\/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images Top Rank is back with two world title fights Friday on ESPN+. Junto Nakatani vs Angel Acosta Scott Christ (46-14) Nakatani has some real star potential as a young flyweight titlist and top fighter at the weight, and I love this matchup, this could be fun. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mmaexchange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}