Inoue Vs. Nakatani – The Next Big Fight

Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani are almost certain to face each other in a mega fight later on.

Inoue has already dominated two divisions, becoming undisputed at bantamweight before repeating the feat at super bantamweight. This achievement places him alongside Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk as two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. He recently stopped Ramon Cardenas to retain his Undisputed Super Bantamweight Title. However, he had to get off the canvas in the second round to do so. Inoue has been dropped twice in his last three fights, showing opponents can find some success. But he came through again to take his record to 30-0, with 27 KOs. 

Nakatani is targeting a clash with Inoue in what would be Japan’s biggest domestic fight. Nakatani remains undefeated at 30-0, with 23 knockouts. After winning the WBC title by defeating Alexandro Santiago, he has defended it three times. He has stopped his last four opponents, including David Cuellar Contreras in his most recent bout. He will try to unify the division in his next fight in June against Ryosuke Nishida for the IBF belt. Nakatani has previously said he would be willing to move up to take the Inoue fight, making it an enticing encounter. Inoue is also on board. 

Inoue Vs. Nakatani

“A fight with Inoue? I’m not setting any specific timelines—next year, maybe later. I really don’t know. But it’s something I’m looking forward to. It will be a huge fight not just in Japan, but around the world. He [Inoue]’s rated as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters, and along with that I have a lot of respect for him. And I’m influenced by him, I want to improve my rankings in the pound-for-pound as well,” Nakatani said

“I want to do the best I can this year for the big domestic match that lots of fans and people around the sport have been talking about. Mr. Nakatani, a year later at Tokyo Dome, let’s lift the mood around Japanese boxing together. If we can come through this year strongly, I believe it will be the most exciting bouts between Japanese in the country’s boxing history,” Inoue stated