Although neither of these two fighters have made massive waves outside of Asia, the Santiago vs Nakatani purse makes it clear that both of these fighters are being compensated well for their boxing excellence.
While the reigning WBC world bantamweight champion is traveling to his challenger’s home country of Japan for this fight, him doing so presents an opportunity to make his name known to a completely new fanbase. And for the challenger, producing a spectacular knockout in front of his home crowd will allow him to ascend into a whole new level of superstardom — and potential prize money.
We’ve searched the internet to find all of the most likely Santiago vs Nakatani prize money, and will be discussing what each of these main event fighters can expect to make in boxing bonuses on Saturday.
Santiago vs Nakatani Fighter Pay: What Will Santiago and Nakatani Be Paid This Weekend?
While this WBO bout didn’t go to a purse bid — and we therefore aren’t certain of the precise Santiago vs Nakatani prize money offerings — we still can gauge what each fighter is making, due to posted boxing payouts from some of their previous bouts.
First, let’s discuss the prize money for the reigning WBC world bantamweight champion, Alejandro Santiago.
While Santiago had fought for a championship belt prior to this bout against Donaire — which Santiago won — this was the highest-profile bout of his boxing career by far.
We know for certain that both Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford took home at least $25 million each after that fight, and that the entire card grossed about $55 million in total sales.
Considering that the Donaire vs Santiago fight was the third to last fight of the evening, it’s safe to assume that Santiago went home with about $150,000 in earnings after that victory in July.
Therefore, considering that Santiago is now an undisputed champion and the A-Side to this highly-anticipated Santiago vs Nakatani fight, we believe that Santiago will be making approximately $250,000 in prize money for fighting against Nakatani this weekend.
While that might seem like a lot, given that Santiago isn’t a huge star, one must consider that this fight is taking place in Tokyo, Japan — and Santiago’s opponent, Junto Nakatani, is a massive star there.
Not to mention that there are a plethora of other Japanese fighters included in this card, such as Kosei Tanaka and Takuma Inoue (who is the younger brother of Naoya Inoue) — all of which is to say that this card is a very big deal in Japan, and will earn Santiago a good deal of fighter pay.
Now let’s talk about the hometown hero for this WBC world bantamweight fight — and what he can expect in Santiago vs Nakatani prize money.
There are a few things we know about Junto Nakatani’s past purses that can inform us what he might be making for this weekend’s bout.
In January 2023, the WBO ordered negotiations for their junior bantamweight mandatory title contest between reigning champion Kazuto Ioka and Nakatani. Although the purse bid for that fight (nor the fight itself) never actually took place, we know that the WBO provided a minimum acceptable bid of $100,000.
What’s more, we know that there was a minimum offer of $80,000 for a purse bid between a Junto Nakatani vs Angel Acosta fight, which eventually happened in September 2021.
Yet, Nakatani is a much bigger star than he was back then, and this upcoming fight against Santiago is an opportunity for him to become a world champion in three weight divisions.
For that reason, we believe that Nakatani will be making $220,000 in Santiago vs Nakatani prize money this weekend.
While it might seem strange that Nakatani is earning less than Santiago — considering that Nakatani is the bigger star, and the fight is taking place on his home soil — one must remember that Santiago is currently the champion of the weight class that’s under contention this weekend.
Therefore, Santiago should be (and is) the one earning slightly more money.
Santiago vs Nakatani Payouts: What the Rest of the Card Can Expect
While we don’t know the exact amount that other fighters on this stacked Santiago vs Nakatani card will be making, it’s safe to assume that Japanese fighters like Kosei Tanaka and Takuma Inoue will at least be making $100,000 in purses — and perhaps even more than that.
Although there isn’t much buzz about this Santiago vs Nakatani card in North America or Europe at the moment, it’s only a matter of time before the world catches on about the elite fighters who will be performing in Tokyo, Japan this weekend — which means more prize money will soon be coming their way, as well.
Grant Young is a sports writer from San Francisco. He has had two professional Muay Thai fights: he got knocked out in one, and got a knockout in the other. When it comes to his favorite fighters, it's Israel Adesanya, and then it's everyone else.
