Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani clash this weekend in one of the most keenly anticipated fights of the year in Tokyo.
Pound-for-pound great Inoue makes the seventh defence of his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles against his domestic rival in arguably the biggest bout in the history of Japanese boxing.
It is a massive showdown that has been a long time in the making as two highly-decorated and undefeated, 32-0 fighters finally go head to head after no shortage of build-up in recent years.
‘The Monster’ Inoue, the fearsome knockout artist, is looking to further cement his legendary legacy after twice becoming undisputed and winning world titles across four different weight divisions, though he could face the sternest test of his illustrious career so far against a three-weight world champion in Nakatani, who most recently reigned as the unified bantamweight champion.
After picking up titles at flyweight and super-flyweight, Inoue went on to become undisputed at both bantamweight and super-bantamweight, completing the latter set of belts with wins over Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales before successfully dispatching all of Luis Nery, TJ Doheny, Ye Joon Kim, Ramon Cardenas and Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
He last fought in Riyadh in December, when he outclassed Mexico’s Alan David Picasso to win on points after Nakatani had earlier defeated Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision in a tricky test on the same bill on what was his debut up at super-bantamweight.
Like Inoue, southpaw ‘Big Bang’ Nakatani also won world titles at flyweight and super-flyweight before becoming a unified champion at bantamweight and then vacating his belts to make another step up in preparation to meet Inoue.
Inoue vs Nakatani fight date and venue
Inoue vs Nakatani takes place on Saturday May 2, 2026 at the sold-out, 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome in Japan.
Inoue vs Nakatani fight time and ring walks
Inoue and Nakatani are expected to be in the ring for Saturday’s main event at approximately 1pm BST, which is 9pm local time. That is 8am ET and 5am PT in the United States.
The undercard is set to get underway at 8am BST, 4pm JST, 3am ET and 12am PT.
How to watch Inoue vs Nakatani
TV channel and live stream: The fight is being broadcast live and exclusively in the UK via DAZN.
It can be viewed through a regular DAZN subscription and is not on their pay-per-view service. A monthly flexible pass for DAZN currently costs £25.99.
An annual super saver subscription is available for £119.99, or £15.99 per month.
The fight can be watched on the DAZN website and app, which is available on smart TVs, laptops, phones and tablets.
Live blog: Follow the action as it happens with Standard Sport’s live blog on fight day.
Inoue vs Nakatani undercard
Saturday’s undercard is headlined by Naoya’s younger brother Takuma Inoue, who defends the WBC bantamweight title he won against Tenshin Nasukawa for the first time as he faces veteran four-division world champion Kazuto Ioka in another all-Japanese contest.
Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani
Takuma Inoue vs Kazuto Ioka
Toshiki Shimomachi vs Reiya Abe
Sora Tanaka vs Jin Sasaki
Kosuke Tomioka vs Shogo Tanaka
Deok No Yun vs Yuito Moriwaki
Yoshiki Takei vs Dekang Wang
Inoue vs Nakatani prediction
Inoue is, as ever, the obvious favourite for this super fight between two pound-for-pound talents, but he is certainly not taking the challenge of Nakatani lightly, calling his rival “very clever, serious and completely dedicated to boxing” during the respectful build-up.
‘The Monster’ added this week: “Because he's that type of fighter, I've felt that I've needed to prepare with the same attitude.”
Inoue’s reputation as one of the sport’s most destructive punchers certainly precedes him, but it’s worth noting that he’s gone the distance now in back-to-back meetings with Akhmadaliev and Picasso, albeit having dominated both.
His reputation for infallibility has been impacted somewhat after being knocked down for the first time in his career by Nery and then again by Cardenas, though he went on to secure spiteful knockouts on both occasions.
Despite rising up in weight to meet Inoue, Nakatani is actually the taller man by three inches and boasts a reach advantage that he will hope he can utilise effectively, though there will be obvious concerns at how difficult he appeared to find the challenge of Hernandez on his super-bantamweight debut in December.
Inoue is another challenge altogether and we’re backing him to put on another boxing clinic to win comfortably on points.
Inoue to win by unanimous decision.
Inoue vs Nakatani weigh-in
Inoue and Nakatani will both hit the scales in Tokyo on Friday, looking to stay within the super-bantamweight limit of 122 pounds. Check back in then for the results.
Inoue vs Nakatani odds
Inoue to win: 1/4
Nakatani to win: 3/1
Draw: 16/1
Inoue to win on points or by decision: 15/8
Inoue to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification: 11/10
Nakatani to win on points or by decision: 8/1
Nakatani to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification: 11/2
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
