When is Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani?
Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani is on Saturday, May 2. The broadcast will begin at 5.40am. Eastern Time (10.40am BST).
What channel is Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani on?
Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani will stream on DAZN.
Where is Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani?
The fight is taking place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
Who is Naoya Inoue?
Naoya Inoue, 32-0 (27 KOs), has cemented his spot in the International Boxing Hall of Fame over the past 12-plus years by boldly taking on tough challenges and conquering each and every one of them.
And now Inoue, a 33-year-old from Yokohama, is taking on what might be his toughest challenge in years – in what will absolutely be the biggest boxing match ever in Japan.
Inoue’s route to superstardom kicked off in 2012. By his fourth fight, he was in the ring with the 18-1-1 Ryoichi Taguchi, outpointing the future 108lbs titleholder and Ring Magazine champion. By early 2014, Inoue had his first belt, stopping junior flyweight Adrian Hernandez in the sixth round. Inoue made one defense and then skipped over flyweight, jumping straight to junior bantamweight.
Inoue didn’t take any time to settle into 115lbs. He immediately challenged Omar Narvaez, a long-time titleholder who for years had been The Ring’s top guy in the division. And he didn’t just beat Narvaez – he blasted him out in a mere two rounds in December 2014 to earn his first of two BoxingScene Fighter of the Year awards.
Let’s detour here for a little to tackle a critique I’ve occasionally heard about Inoue’s stint at junior bantamweight: that he didn’t take on any of the “Four Kings” (Carlos Cuadras, Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai).
Naoya Inoue had a three-year world-title run at 115lbs from the end of 2014 through 2017, making seven successful title defenses. Sadly, the timing didn’t align for fights with those other top talents.
Let’s start with Gonzalez: Chocolatito joined the division at the tail end of 2016. First he scored a win over Cuadras. Then came his two fights with Sor Rungvisai in 2017; he lost one controversially and the other brutally. Gonzalez spent a year out of the ring after the KO loss and didn't face another quality junior bantamweight until 2020. So he was never available for Inoue – and then had been knocked out by the time Inoue departed.
Sor Rungvisai’s first title reign ended in 2014 with a technical decision loss to Cuadras. He didn’t really have greater renown until his two fights with Gonzalez in 2017. And, again, Inoue was understandably ready to move up in weight by the time Sor Rungvisai ascended.
Estrada didn’t arrive at 115 himself until the start of 2017. He took on Cuadras later that year and met Sor Rungvisai in early 2018. Perhaps the most valid critique could be that Inoue never faced Cuadras, who held the WBC belt from the time he beat Sor Rungvisai in 2014 until his loss to Chocolatito in September 2016. As for Kazuto Ioka and Donnie Nietes, they entered the junior-bantamweight ranks in 2018 after successful runs in the lower weight classes.
For whatever we didn’t get at 115, Inoue has since blasted through almost all of the top names at 118 and 122.
Secondary titleholder Jamie McDonnell and former titleholder Juan Carlos Payano lasted a combined three minutes. Emmanuel Rodriguez, a very good undefeated titleholder, couldn’t make it out of the second round.
Some people like to pick on Inoue for going through hell with a 39-year-old Nonito Donaire in a 2019 unification bout. Despite Donaire’s age, at this point he was resurgent; rejuvenated by fighting at a more natural weight class. Inoue was arguably robbed of an early KO win, and he had to battle through a lot – including a fractured orbital – en route to winning a decision in one of the best fights of that year.
Things were much easier for Inoue in their rematch in 2022, which this time had Donaire coming in with the WBC belt he’d recently won. Inoue sent Donaire packing in the second round. Inoue wrapped the year by stopping Paul Butler in 11 to grab the WBO title and recognition as undisputed bantamweight champion.
And then came 2023, when Inoue added another undisputed crown in the span of just five months. First came his eighth-round stoppage of one unified titleholder, Stephen Fulton. Next came a 10th-round KO of Marlon Tapales for the other two belts. Once again, Inoue was BoxingScene’s Fighter of the Year.
In May 2024, Inoue stopped a top contender in former titleholder Luis Nery, though he showed his first signs of mortality since the first Donaire fight in doing so. Inoue’s defense grew porous in his aggression, and Nery floored him heavily in the first round with a left hand. Inoue then remained busy with a TKO win over another former titleholder, TJ Doheny. When mandatory contender Sam Goodman twice pulled out with cuts, Inoue instead kicked off 2025 with an easy win over late replacement Ye Joon Kim.
A year ago, Inoue was down early again – this time by a well-timed, well-placed counter shot from Ramon Cardenas. Cardenas was an enormous underdog before the fight but fought with skill and immense determination. Inoue managed to recover, adjusted to Cardenas’ aggressive style, and took over the bout en route to an eighth-round TKO.
Inoue showed much tighter defense and a more strategic approach during the past September against mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev, a former unified titleholder who was seen as the top remaining contender at 122lbs. Inoue won a wide decision, with the sole shaky moment coming when he was rocked in the final seconds of round 12.
In his fourth fight of 2025, Inoue got one more mandatory defense out of the way – and cultivated his relationship with boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh – by outpointing previously unbeaten Alan David Picasso in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
For some time, there has been talk about Inoue taking on two men believed to be the biggest threats to end his historic run: Junto Nakatani and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. “Bam” is only now moving up from 115 to 118. Nakatani, meanwhile, recently joined the ranks at 122 – and is himself a star in Japan.
Who is Junto Nakatani?
Junto Nakatani, 32-0 (24 KOs), is a former three-division titleholder who has reigned at 112, 115 and 118lbs, and is trying to win all four belts at 122lbs in one fell swoop. All he needs to do is beat the undisputed champion – someone who is seen as an all-time great.
Many have long assumed that Nakatani has the best possible chance among fighters at junior featherweight and below. That said, that assumption was called into question in Nakatani’s most recent outing.
Nakatani, a 28-year-old from Sagamihara, Japan, turned pro in 2015. He scored wins over Masamichi Yabuki in 2016 and Seigo Yuri Akui in 2017 – two men who would go on to win world titles. Nakatani’s first title win came in 2020, when he knocked out Giemel Magramo to win a vacant flyweight belt. He defended it twice and then moved up to junior bantamweight.
Nakatani’s first foe at 115 was Francisco Rodriguez Jnr, a former titleholder and long-time contender. Nakatani outpointed Rodriguez and then met Andrew Moloney in May 2023, scoring a highlight-reel 12th-round knockout to capture another vacant belt. Once again, Nakatani didn’t stick around long. He made one defense and moved up to bantamweight in February 2024.
Over the next 16 months, Nakatani seized the WBC 118lbs title from Alexandro Santiago via sixth-round TKO; dispatched Vincent Astrolabio in one round; took out Tasana “Petch CP Freshmart” Salapat in six rounds; blew through unbeaten contender David Cuellar in three rounds; and added the IBF belt with a sixth-round stoppage of titleholder Ryosuke Nishida.
Nakatani then bade farewell to bantamweight and moved up to 122, fighting in December underneath Naoya Inoue-Alan David Picasso to help set up this clash. Nakatani didn’t pick an easy foe and didn’t have an easy night. He met Sebastian Hernandez, an unbeaten contender who wasn’t there to be a fall guy. Rather, Hernandez rose to the occasion. Nakatani won a unanimous decision, though he might have lost some of his luster.
That may or may not be fair. Maybe Nakatani had an off-night. Maybe he was growing into his new weight class – some fighters need more time settling in than others. Maybe Hernandez was even better than expected. Or maybe it’s a combination of any or all of the above. Time will tell with Hernandez’s talent. But the time has come to see how Nakatani’s talent stands up to Inoue’s.
What other fights are on the undercard of Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani?
The undercard includes Takuma Inoue, 21-2 (5 KOs), defending his WBC bantamweight title against Kazuto Ioka, 32-4-1 (17 KOs).
Takuma is Naoya’s younger brother and is talented in his own right, even if he won’t ever approach matching Naoya’s accomplishments. This is his second title reign. When Naoya departed 118lbs, Takuma picked up the vacant WBA belt with a decision over Liborio Solis. After successful defenses against Jerwin Ancajas and Sho Ishida, Takuma was outpointed by Seiya Tsutsumi in October 2024. He returned last November against Tenshin Nasukawa in a bout for the vacant WBC belt left behind when Nakatani moved up to 122. Takuma caused an upset, giving Nasukawa his first defeat.
Ioka is a former four-division titleholder who held belts at 105, 108, 112 and 115lbs. He left junior bantamweight after back-to-back losses to Fernando Martinez in 2014 and 2015, arriving at 118 this past December with a fourth-round TKO of the 15-1 Maikel Ordosgoitti. Ioka is 37, which is past the prime age for most boxers, and particularly so for these lighter weight classes. Will he have one last great performance in him against Inoue, or will this bout send Ioka off into the sunset?
Also on this show, Yoshiki Takei, 11-1 (9 KOs), fights at junior featherweight after dropping his WBO bantamweight belt in September to Christian Medina in a surprising fourth-round TKO defeat. He faces DeKang Wang, 9-1 (3 KOs), back for the first time in two years since a decision loss to the 13-2 Fillipus Nghitumbwa.
The full list of undercard fights can be seen on BoxRec.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
