A dramatic come-from-behind technical knockout victory of World Boxing Organization 14th-ranked Masayoshi Nakatani of Teiken Boxing Gym over the 11th-ranked Felix Verdejo of Puerto Rico in a lightweight nontitle fight earlier this month was nominated as a candidate for this year’s best bout by American media on Dec. 28.

According to the Boxing Writers Association of America, the fight held at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 12 (Dec. 13 Japan time) was on the lips of boxing writers for its dramatic ending.

While Nakatani was decked in the first and fourth rounds, he tenaciously recovered from these knockdowns, gradually sapped the strength of Verdejo with body shots and left jabs and dropped the Puerto Rican hard to the canvas with an overhand right in the ninth round, prompting the referee to step in to halt the bout.

The BWAA will announce the final result in the latter part of January, 2021.