{"id":559475,"date":"2026-04-30T22:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/559475\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T22:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:08:09","slug":"junto-nakatani-asked-if-naoya-inoue-is-the-best-fighter-in-the-world-ahead-of-undisputed-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/559475\/","title":{"rendered":"Junto Nakatani asked if Naoya Inoue is the best fighter in the world ahead of undisputed clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Junto Nakatani has assessed the lofty status of Naoya Inoue<\/a>, who many consider to be a top two pound-for-pound star.<\/p>\n

The pair will square off at the Tokyo Dome on May 2, with Inoue making the seventh defence of his four major super-bantamweight titles.<\/p>\n

As a two-division undisputed champion, the 33-year-old sits alongside Oleksandr Usyk as the only two active fighters to have achieved such success.<\/p>\n

Terence Crawford, of course, became a three-weight undisputed king by defeating Canelo Alvarez<\/a> last September, but his subsequent retirement has meant that Usyk and Inoue now sit at the very top of the tree.<\/p>\n

Hoping to prove his own greatness, meanwhile, is Nakatani, who made his super-bantamweight debut as a three-division world champion last December.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old secured a rather debatable unanimous decision victory against Sebastian Hernandez, before Inoue topped the bill with a one-sided unanimous verdict over David Picasso<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even away from their last two performances, though, Nakatani recognises that Inoue sits above him in most people\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Japanese southpaw has placed \u2018The Monster\u2019 at the very top of his list, while not even mentioning Usyk during his interview with DAZN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Junto Nakatani reveals his Top 5 P4P list \ud83d\udc51<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f Buy RING V NOW HERE \u2013> https:\/\/t.co\/FoiaUucI53<\/a>#RINGV<\/a>: Night of the Samurai | Dec 27 | Exclusively on DAZN | @ringmagazine<\/a> \ud83e\udd33 pic.twitter.com\/QPh6b4HFLr<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) December 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, Nakatani named Crawford \u2013 who, at this point, was still active \u2013 Jesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson and himself as the remaining entries on his top five pound-for-pound list.<\/p>\n

Some might say that Dmitry Bivol, like Usyk, is unfortunate to have not been given a mention, though Nakatani would certainly merit his place on the list if he manages to dethrone Inoue next week.<\/p>\n