Naoya Inoue v Junto Nakatani

Weight:

122 (Super Bantamweight)

Notable belts:

WBA, WBO, IBF, WBC and Ring Magazine

Date:

02 May 2026

Venue:

Tokyo Dome in Tokyo

What a special fight and one that I’m so glad I was able to witness in person. Inoue started this fight off strong and was able to beat Nakatani at his own game. Nakatani had the skill set to beat Inoue with his length and skill using the long guard, even having knockout power, but Inoue outboxed him from the outside. He even out jabbed him by quite a wide margin. Nakatani was caught out by the speed of hand and feet, before finally realising he had to just go for it. He started to have real success from 8-10 and started to look dangerous, but Inoue was still landing and in the 11th he hurt Nakatani (potentially even breaking his orbital bone). The finished the fight out strong like a P4P number 1 should and gets arguably his career best win. The fight may not have had the high drama many were expecting, but it was a purist boxing match with some of the highest levels of skill displayed. Nakatani was genuinely really on point with sharp reflexes and dialled in counters which he had clearly game planed, yet Inoue was just on a different level. Absolutely one of the best fighters of all time and my favourite fighter ever.