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Naoya Inoue continues to perform at a high level – but is there a disturbing problem lurking?

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7 months ago

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Naoya Inoue believes his busy schedule this year has been crucial in building momentum ahead of a potential mega fight with Junto Nakatani in 2026.

The undisputed junior featherweight world champion and one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world is widely expected to defend his titles against Mexican challenger Alan Picasso on December 27 at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. Inoue’s Japanese opponent, Nakatani, will face Sebastian Hernandez in the co-main event of the gala.

Then, if “The Monster” Inoue (31-0, 27 KO) and Nakatani (31-0, 24 KO) remain champions, they will be treated to a polite face-to-face meeting once their 2026 fight is officially announced at the Tokyo Dome.

Too many fights? Naoya Inoue dismisses the issue

Inoue, 32, will defend his junior featherweight title for the seventh time against Picasso, which will be his fourth fight this year. No other men’s world boxing champion can match Inoue’s activity this year, and some wonder if it was too much.

After Ki Ye-Joon’s 4th round knockout, Inoue even admitted that he was “mentally exhausted.” In May, Inoue was dropped by Ramon Cardenas in Round 2, but quickly recovered and stopped Cardenas in Round 8. Inoue’s third fight of the year was a masterful performance as he maintained a relentless pace to pass Murodjon Akhmadaliev by unanimous decision in September.

For Inoue, this year’s schedule was perfect.

“First of all, I like fighting, and secondly, I want to build my career step by step, so I decided to fight four times this year,” he told ESPN.

“It’s very significant and very good for me that I will fight four fights in the year before the fight with Nakatani.”

Inoue, a world champion in four weight classes, was recently named second, behind super middleweight champion Terence Crawford, on ESPN’s list of the top 100 boxing fighters of 2025.

A victory over Nakatani, his Japanese rival who trains in Los Angeles, could vault him to the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings in a clash that is being hailed as the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.

Nakatani, 27, who stands three inches taller at 5-foot-7, has also been busy this year recording stoppage victories against Ryosuke Nishida and David Cuellar Contreras.

“This [fight vs. Nakatani] “It’s going to be a large fight in Japan and it’s going to be a historic, large fight and a lot of people are going to be interested in seeing it not only in Japan,” Inoue told ESPN.

Inoue held the junior flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight and junior featherweight world belts. Despite knockdowns in two of his last five fights (against Cardenas and Luis Nery in May 2024), Inoue believes that junior featherweight is the optimal weight class for him.

“I feel like I’m the best in the junior featherweight division, better than in other weight classes,” Inoue told ESPN.

Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KO) impressively defeated Kyonosuke Kameda by majority decision in July.

“I didn’t look at his last fight, I’ll just focus on winning,” Inoue told ESPN.

Inoue, who confirmed to ESPN that he will move up to featherweight at some point, believes Japanese boxing can become even better than the boom it is currently enjoying. Seven world boxing champions come from Japan in the men’s and women’s sport, as well as Nakatani, who relinquished his world bantamweight titles in September.

“There are a lot of up-and-coming boxers from Japan, a lot of up-and-coming talented fighters, so I believe that Japanese boxing will get better and better,” Inoue told ESPN.

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Boxing

Usyk Analyzes Anthony Joshuas Performance Against Kristian Prenga After Overcoming Two Knockdowns

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13 hours ago

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July 25, 2026

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"Usyk Analyzes Anthony Joshua's Performance Against Kristian Prenga After Overcoming Two Knockdowns"

Oleksandr Usyk has shared his reaction to Anthony Joshua‘s dramatic knockout victory against Kristian Prenga.

Usyk nearly suffered his own shock defeat in May when he was pushed to the limit by kickboxing star Rico Verhoevenand two months on it was nrw teammate Joshua’s turn to come close to a massive upset loss that would have stunned the heavyweight division.

The Brit was dropped twice by massive underdog Prenga in the opening round of their clash in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, but ‘AJ’ managed to recover and record a big knockdown of his own in the second round that resulted in the stoppage victory.

Joshua and Usyk now train together, having famously had two battles for the unified world heavyweight title in 2021 and 2022, and the Ukrainian has had his say on his stablemate’s victory over Prenga.

Speaking to TalkSporttwo-time undisputed champion Usyk praised Joshua, insisting ‘AJ is back’ before predicting that Joshua will now claim a knockout win over long-term rival Tyson Fury in his next bout.

“Anthony Joshua is next undisputed champion. First round it’s a test but AJ is back.

It’s boxing, [the] big upper cut is good, it’s a knockdown. AJ [come] back and win.

“Greedy Belly [Fury] will speak now and say weak chin, Greedy Belly get out. AJ wins [against Fury], [he will] knock him out.”

Fury was victorious on Friday as he earned a seventh round retirement win against Mariusz Wach in Thailand, paving the way for the showdown against Joshua later this year.

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Jake Paul Reacts to Anthony Joshuas Stunning Victory Over Kristian Prenga After Two Early Knockdowns

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15 hours ago

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July 25, 2026

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"Jake Paul Reacts to Anthony Joshua's Stunning Victory Over Kristian Prenga After Two Early Knockdowns"

Jake Paul was the last man to fight Anthony Joshua and he has now revealed his verdict on AJ’s chaotic victory over Kristian Prenga.

Joshua went up against Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturdayin a clash that was expected to be a comfortable win for the former world heavyweight champion in order to set up the long overdue battle against Tyson Fury.

Any hopes of seeing that clash were nearly ended after AJ was dropped twice in the opening round of the bout, though he was able to recover and claim the second round knockout to come out on top and prevent a stunning shock upset from taking place.

Saturday’s outing saw Joshua back in the ring for the first time since his sixth round triumph over YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul back in Decemberand now ‘The Problem Child’ himself has shared his reaction to his former rival’s victory over Prenga.

Posting on social mediaPaul praised AJ for earning the win, after returning to action following the tragic car crash he was involved in at the end of last year which took the lives of his two close friends.

“Happy for Joshua with that win after all he’s been through. Remembering Sina and Latz with this one.”

The win for Joshua should now tee up for meeting with Fury later this year, after ‘The Gypsy King’ held up his end of the bargain by also securing a win in his warm-up bout on Friday, securing a seventh round retirement win against Mariusz Wach.

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Tony Bellew Reviews Anthony Joshuas Comeback Victory Over Kristian Prenga After Knockdown Drama

Published

15 hours ago

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July 25, 2026

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Tony Bellew Reviews Anthony Joshua's Comeback Victory Over Kristian Prenga After Knockdown Drama

Anthony Joshua may have earned a knockout win over Kristian Prenga but the fight certainly didn’t unfold as most people expected.

Joshua was facing the Albanian in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, and it looked like a massive upset could be on the cards when he was dropped twice in the opening round.

‘AJ’ was able to recover and went on to secure a second round knockout victory to prevent the shock lossseemingly paving the way for the battle against Tyson Fury later this year.

One man who was ringside to witness the battle was former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellewand he praised Joshua’s ability to turn things around in the fight after describing it as ‘chaos’.

“We predicted round two but I don’t think we foresaw that. That was chaos. He doesn’t see the uppercut coming and finds himself on the floor without knowing how he got there.

“The second one he did see it coming and he was able to clench down on the jaw. He got up and then the experience that he has he used tonight because he tied him up. Against Andy Ruiz he didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t know how to do that, but tonight he did.

“He showed once again there is no quit. To be that hurt in the first round and get up, that’s the recoveries of power. People talk about your chin, but it’s not, it’s the level of fitness that gets you up from the floor.

“When Joshua gets a fighter hurt he’s the best finisher in the division. Whenever he hurts someone they’re gone. I haven’t seen him drop anybody and they survive, only Andy Ruiz. He’s a ruthless finisher.”

The clash between Joshua and Fury is now expected to be announced soon for later this year, after Fury won his own interim fight on Friday by defeating Mariusz Wach.

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