Japan's Naoya Inoue will defend his undisputed super bantamweight world championship against unbeaten countryman Junto Nakatani at Tokyo Dome on 2 May, the fighters confirmed at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday.
Inoue, 32, holds a 32-0 record with 27 knockouts and is making the seventh defence of his undisputed crown. Nakatani, 28, is also unbeaten at 32-0 with 24 knockouts and is moving up in weight in pursuit of a fourth divisional title.
“May 2 will be a historic day for boxing,” said Inoue. “But in terms of my boxing career, I have to think of it as just a point on the way.” The bout is expected to draw enormous interest in Japan and beyond.
Inoue returns to Tokyo Dome for the first time since May 2024, when he came off the floor to knock out Mexico's Luis Nery before a sold-out crowd of around 50,000. That victory reinforced his standing as one of the world's best pound-for-pound fighters.
Nakatani, a former champion at flyweight and junior bantamweight, most recently ruled at bantamweight before stepping up to the 122lb division. His debut at the weight came in December in Riyadh, where he defeated Mexico's Sebastian Hernandez by unanimous decision.
“He's the best fighter, so I need to be at my best when I fight him,” said Nakatani. 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.
