Bob Arum has broken down the 2025 plans for unified super-bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. In speaking with Sky Sports, Arum said that after Inoue’s January 24th fight with IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman, “The Monster” will return to the US, where he will fight unbeaten but largely unknown Mexican Alan David Picasso. Arum says Junto Nakatani, with whom Inoue is inching ever closer to engaging in a massive all-Japanese clash, will feature on the card, which is planned for April.
And then, assuming all goes well and both Japanese stars have remained unbeaten, they will rumble inside The Tokyo Dome later this year. This is a fight that Arum says will be “the biggest in the history of Japan.”
Inoue, 28-0(25) cannot afford any slip ups, then, against either Goodman, 19-0(8), or Picasso, 31-0-1(17). While Nakatani, 29-0(22) must come through okay in his February 24th WBC bantamweight title defence against David Cuellar. It will be interesting to see who Nakatani fights on the planned April double-header, which is likely to take place in Las Vegas. Still, the massive fight between Inoue and Nakatani is the fight everyone not named Murodjon Akhmadaliev wants to see (“MJ” claiming Inoue is ducking him, with these claims to remain in place should Inoue fight Picasso in April, and not the far more deserving Akhmadaliev).
“The December 24 fight [against Goodman, which was postponed due to Goodman suffering a cut] is now going to be held on January 24 so that’s done, written in stone,” Arum said to Sky Sports Boxing. “And then after that fight we expect to bring Inoue to the United States to fight in Las Vegas against this Mexican fighter named Picasso. Which we’re going to have a lot of fun with. He’s a good fighter, Picasso. Then we’ll also have on that card the bantamweight champion, Nakatani. A tremendous fighter and if Inoue and Nakatani win their fights, which will probably be in April, then they would fight each other for the 122 pound title in Japan at the Tokyo Dome, which would be the biggest fight in the history of Japan.”
It sure sounds like a plan, and again, who doesn’t want to see Inoue match his skills against those of southpaw Nakatani? It would be a massive event in Japan if these two did get it on, with fans from all over the world tuning in to see who triumphs. Let’s first see how Inoue gets in against Goodman and then Picasso and how Nakatani does in his fight with Cuellar and then TBA.
Who wins if/when Inoue and Nakatani meet towards the end of the year?
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