SUPERFIGHT SHUFFLE
THE MONSTER I’ve covered four Naoya Inoue fights and have been honored to do so. What’s interesting – and a bit unusual given that he’s an authentic knockout puncher – is that on three of the four occasions I’ve seen him live, Inoue has been taken the distance. In 2019, I attended what would become The Ring’s Fight of the Year when Inoue outpointed the legendary Nonito Donaire in an unforgettable battle. In September of 2025, I was in Nagoya when Inoue all but whitewashed former unified junior featherweight titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev en route to a super-skilled 12-round unanimous decision victory. In the main event of the Ring V card, Inoue was equally dominant against Mexican contender Picasso. However, this often masterful near-shutout marks the first time that “The Monster” has gone the full distance in back- to-back fights during his 13-year professional career. At the post-fight press conference, I asked the champion if it’s becoming more difficult to knock out bigger fighters. “To be honest with you, that’s not what I feel… really,” offered Japan’s greatest and most accomplished world champion following an awkward pause. I don’t think the question impressed him, but it was valid. Statistically, when you compare Inoue’s run at 122 pounds to those in the lower weight classes, he is going longer in fights. At junior bantamweight, his eight appearances lasted an average of 5.5 rounds. At bantamweight, a division in which he became undisputed champion, Inoue was even more ruthless with an average of 5.2 rounds across nine fights. At junior featherweight, his eight-fight average has gone all the way up to 8.4 rounds. For the most part, the opponents he’s in against are naturally larger and more durable.
uring my flight back from Riyadh, where I’d covered the “Ring V: Night of the Samurai” card featuring Japanese powerhouses
Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani in separate bouts, I reminisced about the first time I attended a world championship event. The date was June 5, 2004, and Oscar De La Hoya was headlining against relatively unknown WBO middleweight incumbent Felix Sturm at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. De La Hoya, already a five-weight titleholder, was a huge favorite in his middleweight debut. Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Bernard Hopkins, the true division leader at 160 pounds, was defending his Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC titles against Robert Allen, whom he’d already beaten five years earlier by TKO. De La Hoya and Hopkins had already agreed to face each other in September of that year. It was a done deal. All they had to do was knock off a couple of prohibitive underdogs and get down to real business. And then came fight night. I was in Las Vegas as a fan with friends. We watched Hopkins deck Allen with a right hand in Round 7 before eventually claiming an unexciting 12-round unanimous decision. With his part of the deal complete, Hopkins returned to his dressing room and looked on nervously as De La Hoya labored his way to a contentious decision win over Germany’s Sturm, who should have kept his then-unbeaten record and retained his title. Before these bouts took place, the naturally bigger Hopkins was already favored to beat De La Hoya. Following those semifinal outings, “The Golden Boy” was given even less chance of springing the upset over “The Executioner,” who was widely viewed as one of the greatest fighters his division had ever produced. Does this story sound familiar?
The great Inoue produced some dazzling stuff against Alan Picasso.
Almost the same scenario developed between Inoue and Nakatani at the Mohammed Abdo Arena on December 27. Inoue was never tested and easily defended his undisputed junior featherweight championship for the sixth time by outpointing the previously unbeaten Alan Picasso. However, Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez took the heavily favored Nakatani, who was making his debut at 122 pounds, to hell
and back before losing a close decision. While I had Nakatani winning the fight seven rounds to five, there were those at ringside who felt Hernandez had been ripped off. In the aftermath, the proposed collision between Inoue and Nakatani lost some of its luster, with many suggesting that this superfight is no longer super. While neither man would state that it wasn’t happening, there was no face-to-face between the multi-
puncture De La Hoya with a ninth- round body shot knockout, there’s no guarantee that we’ll see Inoue vs. Nakatani become a reality – at least not immediately. In fact, unbeaten Ring Magazine junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez might be perfectly poised to gatecrash the Inoue sweepstakes. More on that later. The whole saga closed out a fascinating week in Riyadh that produced many twists and turns.
weight world champs after they’d won their respective bouts, which led to something of an energy dump at the end of the event. The prevailing thought among many fans and experts is that Nakatani is out of his depth. While Hopkins would go on to
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