Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani met face-to-face to formally announce the biggest all-Japanese fight in the nation’s rich boxing history.
A press conference was held Friday to confirm boxing’s worst-kept secret: Inoue, 32-0 (27 KOs), will risk his lineal, Ring and undisputed 122lbs championship, while Nakatani, 32-0 (24 KOs), will bid to become a four-division champion. Their superfight will top a May 2 blockbuster event to air live on Lemino pay-per-view from the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
U.S. distribution rights weren’t immediately revealed during the presser. The full undercard, however, was revealed. Among the supporting clashes will be a terrific bantamweight clash between WBC titleholder Takuma Inoue and former four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka.
The Inoues, Nakatani and Ioka were on stage Friday, along with their respective teams, to create an historic moment for the Japanese media.
Takuma is Naoya’s younger brother by two years and a two-time bantamweight title claimant. He previously held the WBA title and won the WBC belt in a 12-round decision victory over Tenshin Nasukawa last November 24 in Tokyo.
Ioka, 32-4-1 (17 KOs), became the first male boxer from Japan to win major titles in four weight divisions. He beat Naoya to the feat by four years, having won belts at 105lbs, 108lbs, 112lbs and 115lbs.
Nakatani has the chance to become just the third ever on that list and fourth overall to win belts in at least four weight divisions. Recently elected Hall of Fame member Naoko Fujioka is the nation’s only boxer – regardless of gender – to accomplish the feat.
Ioka can become Japan’s first male boxer to win five divisional titles should he beat the younger Inoue. He rebounded from back-to-back defeats to then-unbeaten Fernando Martinez with a win at bantamweight last New Year’s Eve at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.
Friday’s session capped a year’s worth of anticipation that the fight had a significant chance to become a reality. Inoue and Nakatani spoke it into existence last year during the 2024 Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC) awards.
They met again during this year’s awards ceremony, where Inoue won his eighth consecutive Fighter of the Year award, while Nakatani was also honored for Best Skill, an award shared with Takuma Inoue. The pair of pound-for-pound entrants were happy to report that they honored their word.
“We were both able to fulfill our promises,” Inoue said during this year’s ceremony. “In May this year, at Tokyo Dome, I'll clash head-on with Junto Nakatani.
“Everyone, please make sure to witness that courageous showdown.”
Inoue’s 2025 campaign represented the most active male boxer at the top of the sport. He made four successful championship defenses on the year, the busiest of any male lineal champion since Brian Mitchell’s 1987 campaign, when he was the recognized lineal and WBA 130lbs king.
Nakatani’s 2025 campaign jumped out to a strong enough start that he was selected as the mid-year leader for BoxingScene’s Fighter of the Year race. He earned stoppage wins over David Cuellar and unbeaten countryman Ryosuke Nishida, the latter of which saw Nakatani unify the WBC and IBF 118lbs titles in just the fourth-ever unification bout between reigning titlists from Japan.
The win over Nishida was also Nakatani’s final fight at bantamweight, where he won the WBC belt in February 2024 and scored knockout wins in each of his five fights at the weight.
Shortly thereafter, Nakatani took the most significant step towards making the Inoue fight a reality when he declared that he was set to campaign in the 122lbs division.
His debut came in the chief support to Inoue’s most recent title defense, when they both appeared on the December 27 “Japan vs. the World” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Inoue turned away unbeaten contender Alan David Picasso via unanimous decision just three months after he outpointed former unified titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev. Nakatani’s night was considerably more exciting, as he suffered cuts and bruising while barely outlasting Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez over 12 grueling rounds.
Nakatani previously unified two titles at bantamweight, then exited the division at a perfect 6-0 (6 KOs) – all in title fights. He has also held major titles at flyweight and junior bantamweight.
Inoue won his first strap in 2014, when he blasted out Adrian Hernandez in the sixth round of their WBC 108lbs title. By year’s end, he was already a two-division titlist after ending the lengthy reign of WBO 115lbs title claimant Omar Narvaez via second-round knockout.
In 2018 came a move to bantamweight, where Inoue held a secondary version of the WBA title before he became a true three-division titleholder following a May 2019 early knockout of Emmanuel Rodriguez. He went on to fully unify at bantamweight, capped by a December 2022 late stoppage of Paul Butler to become Japan’s first-ever undisputed champion in the three- or four-belt era.
His run at 122lbs has added to the historic stretch enjoyed by the all-time great.
Inoue is the only Asian boxer ever to claim two-division undisputed championship status, and has ruled junior featherweight with an iron fist since his July 2023 knockout of unbeaten WBC/WBO titlist Stephen Fulton Jnr. A win over Marlon Tapales added the IBF and WBA chips, along with 2023 Fighter of the Year honors.
