Naoya Inoue set to defend undisputed super bantamweight title against David Picasso in December
Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani hope to share the ring in 2026, but first they'll share a fight card.
Inoue will defend his undisputed super bantamweight crown against David Picasso in the main event of a Turki Alalshikh-backed Ring card on Dec. 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The card will stream on DAZN.
Incredibly, it will be the fourth fight of 2025 for Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs), Uncrowned's No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer. Inoue flattened Ye Joon Kim in January before having to recover from a knockdown to defeat Ramon Cardenas in a May Las Vegas thriller. On Sunday, the Japanese star dominated Murodjon Akhmadaliev for a wide unanimous decision in his third ring appearance of the year.
Mexico's Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KOs) is the WBC's No. 1 contender for Inoue. He defeated Kyonosuke Kameda by majority decision on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios prelims in July. Picasso previously won a unanimous decision over Azat Hovhannisyan in a career-best display in August 2024.
In the night's co-feature, Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs), Uncrowned's No. 6 pound-for-pound boxer, makes his super bantamweight debut against Mexico's Sebastian Hernandez Reyes (20-0, 18 KOs). Nakatani, a three-division world champion, vacated his unified bantamweight title to move up weight divisions and eventually land a showdown with Inoue, which is being targeted for the spring of 2026 should both emerge victorious in December.
Kenshiro Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs) will look to become a three-division world champion when he collides with Mexico’s Willibaldo Garcia Perez (23-6-2, 13 KOs) for the IBF super flyweight belt. Garcia claimed the belt with a split decision win against Rene Calixto Bibiano in May, while Teraji will return to the ring for the first time since losing the WBA and WBC flyweight titles to Ricardo Sandoval in July.
Elsewhere on the night, Hayato Tsutsumi (8-0, 5 KOs) steps up to face James "Jazza" Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs), Reito Tsutsumi (3-0, 2 KOs) meets Mexico’s Leobardo Quintana (11-1, 5KOs), and Taiga Imanaga (9-0, 5 KOs) takes on the WBA's No. 4-ranked lightweight Armando Martinez (16-0, 15 KOs) from Cuba.
The card was originally intended to be a Japan vs. Mexico show, but the concept recently changed to Japan vs. the rest of the world. On the announced card, all six A-sides hail from Japan, while four of the B-sides come from Mexico, one from Cuba, and one from the U.K.
Boxing on Yahoo! Sports – News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games
