Naoya Inoue Vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev Preview

Undisputed Super Bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue is set to defend his titles against WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev on September 14, as we preview this upcoming fight. 

Inoue is coming off a fifth-round stoppage victory over Ramon Cardenas on May 4, a fight in which he was dropped for the second time in his career. However, he quickly recovered and finished the fight in spectacular fashion, extending his stoppage streak to 11. Meanwhile, Akhmadaliev, who holds a professional record of 12-1, is on a three-fight win streak. His last outing was a unanimous decision victory over Luis Castillo. The only loss on his record came against Marlon Tapales. 

Pre-Fight

“This time I chose training partners who were important to me. Each of them had something similar to Akhmadaliev, so I was able to respond to them properly and overcome them all, which was a key factor. When I was asked what Akhmadaliev and I had in common, I said overall strength. But I’m definitely not inferior in that aspect. What concerns me is his physical strength, although I won’t face a tough opponent head-on with brute force,” Inoue said 

“We know Inoue can get dropped. He will get hurt if he gets caught by MJ with a good shot just like we saw with Cardenas. The only difference is that MJ is an executioner, and he won’t let you recover. I’m realistic. I know it’s going to be hard to beat Inoue in Japan. That’s why we have to knock him out. I don’t know if we can [get] the decision.

“Inoue throws a high volume of punches. We know that he has to catch him with a good shot, hurt him, execute, and finish him. MJ knows how to finish fights and has heavy shots. Inoue is vulnerable to getting knocked out. It’s just a matter of having the right timing and not letting him recover by attacking and overwhelming,” Joel Diaz (Akhmadaliev’s coach) stated 

Full Card

Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev – undisputed junior featherweight championship

Yoshiki Takei vs. Christian Medina – 12 rounds, WBO bantamweight title

Yuni Takada vs. Ryusei Matsumoto – 12 rounds, vacant WBA “regular” strawweight title

Yudai Murakami vs. Taiga Imanaga – 10 rounds, lightweight

Ei Go vs. Shunpei Ohata – 8 rounds, junior lightweight