Unbeaten records on the line for Naoya Inoue-Junto Nakatani superfight in Tokyo

TOKYO – Japan’s Naoya Inoue will face the biggest challenge of his stellar career, when he takes on unbeaten countryman Junto Nakatani on May 2 in front of a sell-out 55,000 crowd at the Tokyo Dome.

Undisputed super bantamweight world champion Inoue will defend his titles for a seventh time when he clashes with the dangerous southpaw. They boast identical 32-0 records, setting the stage for a bout that has been more than a year in the making and been dubbed the biggest boxing match in Japanese history.

“I have a good understanding of the way he fights,” said the 33-year-old Inoue, who is giving up an 8cm height advantage to Nakatani, who is also five years younger.

“However he starts the fight and whatever methods he uses, I’ll be ready for him.”

The destructive Inoue – who has 27 KOs to his opponent’s 24 – will be fighting for the first time in 2026 after taking on a remarkable four bouts in 2025.

He won them all with little fuss, but admitted he was tired after rounding off the year with a unanimous-decision victory over Mexico’s Alan David Picasso in Saudi Arabia on Dec 27.

Nakatani beat Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision on the same card in his super bantamweight debut.

It earned him his shot at the big time and he will need all of his technical excellence and concussive punching power to get the better of the “Monster” Inoue.

“I’ve trained harder than ever, with no regrets, and I’m coming back fully prepared,” Nakatani told reporters after returning from his training camp in the United States.

“I’m in perfect shape.”

Nakatani has held world titles in the flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight divisions.

At 1.73m, he is taller than most boxers of his weight class and has a clear height advantage over Inoue and a slightly longer reach.

Nicknamed “Big Bang”, Nakatani regularly features in The Ring magazine’s top 10 pound-for-pound rankings, which rate the world’s best boxers regardless of weight class. Inoue has been a fixture in the top three for years.

Nakatani was not entirely convincing against Hernandez, starting strongly but fading over the second half of the fight. He has set his sights on becoming the new pound-for-pound king, saying: “I want to win so that I can close the gap on the top spot in the rankings.”

To achieve that, Nakatani will have to do something that no boxer has managed before and beat Inoue, whose ring intelligence, punching power and ability to adapt to the flow of the fight are second to none.

Inoue did not win either of his last two fights by knockout, but he looked comfortably in control throughout both.

He was knocked down for the first time in his career against Mexico’s Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome in May 2024 before a knockout win, and again by American Ramon Cardenas in Las Vegas in May 2025 before the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round.

Nakatani believes he can do the same, but Inoue knows how to handle the big occasion.

“The pressure is starting to build and I have a strong feeling that I can’t be beaten,” said Inoue.

“This is not the end for me. It’s just a stop along the way.” AFP