Japan’s Naoya Inoue 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.
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.
Both fighters are unbeaten and the long-anticipated bout is expected to draw enormous interest in Japan and beyond.
“May 2 will be a historic day for boxing,” said Inoue, who will be making the seventh defense of his undisputed crown.
“But in terms of my boxing career, I have to think of it as just a point on the way,” added the 32-year-old, whose record stands at 32-0 with 27 knockouts.
“I will prepare for the fight with that mindset.”
Inoue will return to the Tokyo Dome for the first time since May 2024, when he bolstered his claim as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter by coming off the floor to knock out Mexico’s Luis Nery before a sold-out crowd of around 50,000 spectators.
The unbeaten Japanese star known as the “Monster” was dropped by a heavy left hook late in the opening round – the first knockdown of his 12-year professional career – before rallying to floor Nery twice and finish the fight with a devastating sixth-round stoppage.
The victory reinforced Inoue’s standing among the sport’s 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.
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.
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.
His debut at the weight came in December in Riyadh, where he defeated Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision on the same card where Inoue beat Mexico’s Alan Picasso.
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.
The 28-year-old said he had learned valuable lessons from the experience.
“My body has grown and I feel like I’m getting more adjusted, so from here I want to discuss tactics and the game plan with my team,” he said.
“I want to hone things and get fully ready.”
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.
“I have to raise the level of every aspect of my boxing, otherwise I can’t bring out the best version of myself,” he said.
“First of all I have to make sure this is the best fight I’ve ever had.”
Nakatani said he understands the scale of the task against a fighter widely regarded as Japan’s greatest boxer.
“He’s the best fighter, so I need to be at my best when I fight him,” he said.
In another all-Japanese clash on the undercard, Inoue’s younger brother Takuma Inoue, the WBC bantamweight champion, will face veteran former four-division titleholder Kazuto Ioka.
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