Unlike defeat during his IBF title eliminator under the Takuma Inoue-Tenshin Nasukawa undercard on November 24, Nakano began fast and refused to give Dlamini any opportunity to weave his web and outbox him at distance.

Dlamini (21-4, 12 KOs) struggled with the home fighter's speedy bursts in round one, a problem exacerbated during the final seconds as he absorbed a body shot while looking to throw, and stumbled to the canvas. A knockdown was called despite his protestations to referee Shuhei Terayama before sheepishly returning to the corner.

The South African would've been warned against feeling sorry for himself at this stage, though needed to assert his strengths, giving Nakano (15-1, 14 KOs) something to think about. The second stanza was a 10-9 rather than 10-8, though the Tokyo resident continued chaining one-two combinations together and landed some uppercuts too.

Dlamini threw caution to the wind with his punch output, though abandoned his defensive shape at times to do so, no doubt aware he was being picked apart by a fighter whose momentum was rising with each minute.

Nakano's straight left floored him with just under 40 seconds to play and while he rocked the visitor after beating the official's count, the bell arrived to save him. There would be no such repeat in the fourth rame though.

Nakano hurt him early with a left hook, pinned him against the ropes with shots downstairs and a succession of unanswered left hands through the guard saw Dlamini crumbled in a heap on the canvas, the official taking one look at him before waving it off.

Dlamini told South African news outlets he'd prepared very well, in the prime of his career and insisted there would be nothing different Nakano could show him that he wouldn't be ready for after a year-long layoff. He quickly found otherwise against an emotional Nakano, who quickly proved a few levels above him on a night both needed to win.

Ryota Muto (10-1-1, 6 KOs) scored a seventh-round stoppage win over Kenji Fujita (10-1, 5 KOs) in a surprise result at featherweight, winning a WBO regional title as the sanctioning body's top-ranked contender for Rafael Espinoza's world title had his championship aspirations shattered during his first appearance of 2026.

Hiroki Horiike (8-0, 5 KOs) made the first defense of his regional 140-pound title, needing less than two minutes to dismiss Philippines' Reymond Yanong (18-11-1, 12 KOs). Mikyo Watarai (8-1, 5 KOs) pitched a near shutout against Uganda's unbeaten hopeful Isaac Ssebuufu (9-1, 7 KOs) elsewhere at junior welter while bantamweight talent Riku Asai (2-0, 2 KOs) scored a violent second-round finish over Yuki Kajitani to start the night's action at Korakuen Hall.