Japanese boxing rivals Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani set up one of the biggest fights for 2026 after both registered wins on Saturday.
Undisputed junior featherweight champion Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) outclassed David Picasso to win by unanimous scores of 119-109, 120-108 and 117-111 at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) made a victorious debut at junior featherweight but endured the toughest fight of his career to prevail by a unanimous points decision (115-113, 115-113 and 118-110) over Sebastian Hernandez.
Inoue vs. Nakatani will be the biggest ever fight in Japanese boxing history, and will see two of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters, both unbeaten, face each other for Inoue’s 122-pounds title belts.
It was not quite a masterpiece from Inoue vs. Picasso, as it lacked a knockout finish, but his dominant win sets up the first megafight of 2026. It remains to be seen whether English heavyweight rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, former world champions, will face each other after five years of attempts, speculation and unfulfilled agreements.
Inoue, 32, a world champion in four weight classes, made a seventh junior featherweight title defense as he consistently beat Picasso to the punch and repeatedly targeted the body.
Inoue has shown a vulnerability in recent fights – he recovered from knock downs in two of his previous five fights — but his speed, skill and power were levels above Picasso in his fourth fight this year.
“I wasn’t very happy about my performance, I could have done much better, so I will learn from this and be much better next time,” Inoue said after.
Inoue, from Yokohama, had to rewrap his hands twice but it did not distract him as he was quick to get into his stride. Inoue showed a variety of punches as he landed wave upon wave of combinations on Picasso in the first three rounds. The Mexican challenger showed bursts of spirited aggression but this was Inoue at his fluent best for 12 rounds.
Picasso (32-1-1, 17 KOs), who impressively won a majority decision over Kyonosuke Kameda in a 10-round fight in July, has a university degree in neuroscience but it was Inoue who showed better ring IQ. Inoue hurt Picasso with a left to the body at the end of Round 6 as his hand speed continued to see him comfortably outland the challenger.
Picasso absorbed another crunching left to the body in Round 8, and more body attacks mercilessly followed in the next round. Picasso showed great conditioning to survive 12 rounds with one of the world’s best boxers.
Nakatani survives tough fight vs. Hernandez
Three-weight world champion Nakatani, from Kanagawa who trains in Los Angeles, edged a brutal 12-round non-title fight that he finished with a swollen, shut right-eye.
Nakatani, who relinquished his world bantamweight titles in September, was given the toughest fight of his career against Hernandez’s non-stop aggression and high-volume punch output. A draw would have been a fair result in a brilliant co-main event and Hernandez (20-1, 18 KOs) even had a good argument to have won.
“It was a great learning experience for me,” Nakatani said after.
“My opponent put up a great fight and it enabled me to grow accordingly. I change my weight class to aim for the world champion [Inoue] and if I get the opportunity I will do my best.”
It completed a good year for Nakatani, 27, who stopped Ryosuke Nishida and David Cuellar Contreras in 2025.
Hernandez, from Mexico but based in San Diego, had assembled an impressive knockout ratio below world title level, but this performance showed he is good enough to win world titles.
Nakatani initially took control behind his southpaw jab, then opened up more in Round 2 when he landed a shuddering left hook on the counter.
Nakatani landed a brilliant right uppercut late in the third as his punches continued to be sharper on the counter. Hernandez applied effective pressure in the second half of Round 4, but Nakatani continued to find him with uppercuts.
Both threw a lot of punches in a furious Round 6 and the middle rounds were uncomfortable for Nakatani. Hernandez maintained his intensity, and he out landed Nakatani in the second half of the fight as he kept marching and mauling forward. Round 9 was a belter and one of the scorecards seemed harsh on Hernandez, who showed unquenchable spirit.
IBF world junior bantamweight champion Willibaldo Garcia (23-6-2, 13 KOs), 36, from Mexico, pulled out of his title defense vs. two-weight champion Kenshiro Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs) on the eve of the contest. Garcia was reportedly taken to hospital after he fell ill following the weigh-in on Friday. No replacement opponent could be found for Japanese fighter Teraji.