Inoue and Nakatani put unbeaten records on the line in Tokyo Dome showdown

TOKYO: Japan’s Naoya Inoue is set to face fellow unbeaten boxer Junto Nakatani on Saturday in what has been billed as the biggest boxing match in Japanese history, with a sell-out crowd of 55,000 expected at the Tokyo Dome.

Undisputed super bantamweight world champion Inoue will make the seventh defence of his titles against the dangerous southpaw Nakatani. Both fighters carry identical 32-0 records into the contest, setting up a long-anticipated meeting that has been more than a year in the making.

Inoue, 33, said he had studied his opponent closely ahead of the bout.

Inoue will be conceding an eight-centimetre height disadvantage to Nakatani, who is five years younger. The champion, known for his knockout power, has 27 stoppage wins, while Nakatani has 24.

The fight will be Inoue’s first of the year after a busy 2025 campaign in which he fought four times and won all of those bouts comfortably. He ended the year with a unanimous decision win over Mexico’s Alan Picasso in Saudi Arabia, though he acknowledged afterwards that he had been tired by the close of the year.

Nakatani earned this opportunity after defeating Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision on the same Saudi Arabia card in his super bantamweight debut. The win moved him into position for the highest-profile fight of his career.

Nakatani targets top spot

After returning from a training camp in the United States, Nakatani told reporters he had prepared intensely for the challenge.

Nakatani, nicknamed Big Bang, has previously held world titles at flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight. Standing at 173 cm, he is taller than most fighters in his division and also holds a slight reach advantage over Inoue.

He is a regular presence in The Ring magazine’s top 10 pound-for-pound rankings, while Inoue has remained among the top three in those standings for years. Nakatani has made clear that he wants to use Saturday’s fight to move closer to the top of that list.

"I want to win so that I can close the gap on the top spot in the rankings", he said.

Although Nakatani started strongly against Hernandez, he was less convincing in the second half of that fight. Against Inoue, he will need both his technical skill and punching power to succeed against a boxer widely regarded for his ring intelligence, adaptability and finishing ability.

Inoue confident before major test

Inoue did not stop either of his last two opponents, but he appeared firmly in control in both contests. He was knocked down for the first time in his career by Mexico’s Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome two years ago, and he was dropped again by American Ramon Cardenas in Las Vegas in May last year.

Nakatani believes he can also trouble Inoue, but the champion has repeatedly shown he can handle major occasions. Ahead of the bout, Inoue said the significance of the event was beginning to sink in, but added that his confidence remained intact.