Japanese sensation’s next fight announced.
Japan has become one of the best boxing countries in the world. Having produced the most world champions of any Asian nation, great fighters from today and in history have come out of the Land of the Rising Sun.
Two of their fighters of today happen to both be 32-0, multi-weight world champions, and on the pound-for-pound list.
Oh, and they’re also both huge stars in their country and currently occupy the same weight division.
So, of course, they shall fight.
This bout has been teased for a while now, but we now have official confirmation that it will be taking place in what is unquestionably the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.
In December, both Inoue and Nakatani shared the same bill against undefeated Mexicans. However, while Inoue defeated David Picasso with plenty of room to spare, Nakatani had a mighty scare against Sebastian Hernandez Reyes.
In his super-bantamweight debut, Nakatani ran into the perpetual motion machine that was his Hispanic foe, getting sucked into a contest where he was forced to withstand Hernandez’s hail of blows round after round.
Despite Nakatani getting the nod, many gave Hernandez the victory. But either way, many threw doubt on how Nakatani would perform against Inoue, given how much he had struggled against a much lesser-known opponent.
Despite this, the fight remains an exceptional meeting of two generational talents and will be contested for Inoue’s entire collection of 122-pound marbles.
Inoue, for many in the boxing fraternity, is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the best ever from Japan. On the 2nd of May at the Tokyo Dome, he will get a chance to enhance his legacy even further in what will be the 7th consecutive defence of his undisputed championship.
‼️ Naoya Inoue is set to defend his Ring and undisputed junior featherweight titles against Junto Nakatani on May 2nd at the Tokyo Dome, sources tell @MikeCoppinger.#InsideTheRing | Latest episode LIVE NOW on DAZN 📺 pic.twitter.com/bmD7rFJa4h
— InsideRingShow (@InsideRingShow) February 23, 2026
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