Turki Alalshikh Planning Major Japan vs Mexico Card Headlined By Naoya Inoue

Originally plans were for Picasso to fight Inoue on May 4th, however that fight didn't materialize and Ramon Cardenas stepped up instead. Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) would go on to stop Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) in the 8th round in a Fight of the Year contender. In that fight, Inoue was knocked down in the second round, but bounced back to drop Cardenas in the seventh, then finishing the job the following round.

Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) hasn't fought since Dec. 14th, 2024, knocking out Yehison Cuello in the third round.

Before Inoue vs. Picasso can fully go through, "The Monster" has to get past Murodjon Akhmadaliev on Sept. 14th. Akhmadaliev (14-1, 11 KOs), who is the interim WBA junior featherweight champion, has won three straight fights, last beating Luis Castillo by eighth-round stoppage on May 30th in Mexico.

Outside of Inoue vs Picasso, there's another major fight in the works for the card. It is reported that unified WBC and WBA flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji could face Francisco Rodriguez Jr.

Rodriguez Jr. (35-6-1, 1NC, 26 KOs) was recently crowned that interim WBC flyweight champion, after his one-sided unanimous decision win over Galal Yafai on June 21st. Teraji (25-1, 16 KOs) became unified champion after stopping Seigo Yuri Akui in the 12th round on March 13th, in one of the best fights of 2025.

Unified IBF and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs) could also make his junior-featherweight debut on the card against Cardenas.

If Inoue and Nakatani were to fight on Dec. 27 and win their respective fights, that could set the table for the highly anticipated super-fight between the two in 2026.