{"id":461284,"date":"2026-03-06T19:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461284\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:53:07","slug":"naoya-inoue-to-face-junto-nakatani-in-historic-tokyo-dome-megafight-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461284\/","title":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue to face Junto Nakatani in historic Tokyo Dome megafight | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s Naoya Inoue<\/a> said Friday that he will need to be at his destructive best when he faces unbeaten countryman Junto Nakatani in their highly anticipated showdown at Tokyo Dome in May.<\/p>\n

The two fighters met in Tokyo to formally confirm their 2 May clash, with Inoue set to defend his undisputed super bantamweight world championship against Nakatani, who is moving up in weight in pursuit of a fourth divisional title.<\/p>\n

Both fighters are unbeaten and the long-anticipated bout is expected to draw enormous interest in Japan<\/a> and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay 2 will be a historic day for boxing,\u201d said Inoue, who will be making the seventh defense of his undisputed crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in terms of my boxing career, I have to think of it as just a point on the way,\u201d added the 32-year-old, whose record stands at 32-0 with 27 knockouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will prepare for the fight with that mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Inoue will return to the Tokyo Dome for the first time since May 2024, when he bolstered his claim as the world\u2019s best pound-for-pound fighter by coming off the floor to knock out Mexico\u2019s Luis Nery<\/a> before a sold-out crowd of around 50,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

The unbeaten Japanese star known as the \u201cMonster\u201d was dropped by a heavy left hook late in the opening round \u2013 the first knockdown of his 12-year professional career \u2013 before rallying to floor Nery twice and finish the fight with a devastating sixth-round stoppage.<\/p>\n

The victory reinforced Inoue\u2019s standing among the sport\u2019s elite and added another chapter to a career that has seen him capture world titles across four weight divisions and unify all four major belts at bantamweight and junior featherweight.<\/p>\n

Naoya Inoue of Japan is considered by many the world\u2019s greatest fighter regardless of weight. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nakatani, 28, enters the fight with the same 32-0 record, including 24 knockouts, and the chance to join an exclusive group of Japanese fighters who have claimed championships in four divisions.<\/p>\n

A former champion at flyweight and junior bantamweight, Nakatani most recently ruled at bantamweight before stepping up to the 122lb division in pursuit of a meeting with Inoue.<\/p>\n

His debut at the weight came in December in Riyadh, where he defeated Mexico\u2019s Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision on the same card where Inoue beat Mexico\u2019s Alan Picasso.<\/p>\n

The bout proved a demanding introduction to the higher weight for Nakatani, who slowed late after a bruising 12-round fight but still did enough to secure the win.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old said he had learned valuable lessons from the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body has grown and I feel like I\u2019m getting more adjusted, so from here I want to discuss tactics and the game plan with my team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to hone things and get fully ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoue, who fought four times in 2025, acknowledged the demanding schedule after his win over Picasso but said the challenge of facing Nakatani would demand the best version of himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to raise the level of every aspect of my boxing, otherwise I can\u2019t bring out the best version of myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all I have to make sure this is the best fight I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakatani said he understands the scale of the task against a fighter widely regarded as Japan\u2019s greatest boxer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the best fighter, so I need to be at my best when I fight him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In another all-Japanese clash on the undercard, Inoue\u2019s younger brother Takuma Inoue, the WBC bantamweight champion, will face veteran former four-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s Naoya Inoue said Friday that he will need to be at his destructive best when he faces…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-461284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}