Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani can provide the perfect counter to Joshua vs Paul

Comment: Two of the world’s best will fight on the same show, potentially setting up one of the most appetising bouts in the sport

It’s very possible that Anthony Joshua’s frustrating fight, or approximation of a fight, with YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul has left a sour taste in your mouth. Luckily, it’s the season for mulled wine, hot chocolate and Baileys, but if you don’t trust the effectiveness of these festive fluids to cleanse the palate, don’t despair. The day after Boxing Day, it’s boxing day, as two of the finest fighters on the planet grace the ring on the same card.

Enter Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, the Japanese duo looking to deliver their own duel in 2026, but with respective tests awaiting them on 27 December.

On that night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Inoue will defend his undisputed super-bantamweight titles against Alan Picasso (please respect the restraint in avoiding any artist-related puns in this article). In the preceding bout, Junto Nakatani makes his debut in the same division as he faces Sebastian Hernandez Reyes.

All four fighters are unbeaten. Per the Indy Sport rankings, Inoue is the second-best boxer alive, and Nakatani is floating at No 8. While their upcoming opponents lack the profile and pedigree of Inoue and Nakatani (who vacated his unified bantamweight belts to move up a division here), they are unbeaten and respectable foes.

Of course, Picasso (who also goes by his middle name, David) and Reyes are underdogs this weekend, yet obviously not to the extent that Paul was against “AJ” – a former world heavyweight champion. Neither, incidentally, will use the influencer’s tactics of skipping away (around a larger-than-usual ring) and diving at his opponent’s legs to buy time and avoid damage. Picasso and Reyes will come to fight, for better or worse. In fact, they will come to win.

Still, the same fate as Paul’s may befall them: the sort of punishing stoppage to, for example, break a jaw in two places. But Picasso and Reyes will engage in the action anyway, and they will accept that this may be the price of glory. It is certainly the price of honour.

Anthony Joshua broke Jake Paul’s jaw in two places in his stoppage of the YouTuber (Getty for Netflix)

In this way, Saturday’s event will be a welcome counterpunch to last Friday’s commercial behemoth/sporting farce. It is an evening for the traditionalists, but please, come one and all. If Joshua vs Paul appealed to something in you, even if just for its spectacle, then stick around for a little more of that and a lot more actual boxing.

In general, this event should be appreciated for its showcasing of two of the finest fighters in the sport. However, one cannot in good conscience gush over these elements without addressing the drawbacks – and there are drawbacks.

Firstly, there is the political element, and it goes beyond the “boxing politics” of Joshua’s six-round dismissal of Paul. It is a matter of global politics. Saudi Arabia can be accused of using this event – the latest in its long line of top-level boxing shows over the last two years – as a sportswashing tool, as the Gulf state continues a perceived attempt to distract from its poor human-rights record.

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Secondly, and much less importantly, there is the risk of billing Inoue and Nakatani’s fights as stepping stones en route to their own, much-desired showdown.

Indeed, a clash between 32-year-old Inoue (a two-weight undisputed king and four-weight champion) and 27-year-old Nakatani (a three-weight champion) is mouthwatering.

Naoya Inoue (left) is one of the most-entertaining boxers in the world (AP)

Inoue has long been acknowledged as one of the best boxers in the world, if not – for a time – the best, but detractors have pointed to the diminutive destroyer’s lack of big-name opponents. That is not through any avoidance on his part, but rather the fact that the lower weight classes house fewer stars. Yet in Nakatani, he might find an opponent at the apex of danger and marketability.

Yet we have been here before: “If A beats X, and B beats Y, then A and B can have their highly anticipated bout next.” This strategy is glaringly flawed; such is the chaos of boxing.

We received such evidence two years ago, to the month, when Joshua and Deontay Wilder shared a card in the same city that will host Saturday’s fights. Joshua took apart Otto Wallin, but the destruction was still deflating because – 30 minutes earlier – Wilder had been beaten up by Joseph Parker for 12 rounds. With that, Joshua vs Wilder slipped from touching distance – maybe forever.

Similarly, this May, a huge rematch between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia fell apart when they boxed in the same ring but delivered differing results; Haney, while poor, got past Jose Ramirez, only for Garcia to be dropped and outpointed by Rolly Romero in an upset loss.

Junto Nakatani is eyeing the biggest fight of his career, a potential bout with Inoue (AP)

So, here we are again. And as much as Inoue would be the A-side in a match-up with Nakatani, and as formidable as the “Monster” is, there is reason to be concerned for him this weekend. In two of his last five fights, Inoue has been dropped, showing a vulnerability that could derail the Saudi’s machinations of pairing him with Nakatani.

Admittedly, it is Nakatani’s opponent on Saturday who has a 90 per cent knockout rate (18 finishes from 20 wins). In contrast, Picasso enters his fight against Inoue with 17 KOs from 32 wins. It could yet be Nakatani who slips up here, especially given that he is at a new weight – three divisions above the class where he won his first world title.

And that might factor into a potential clash with Inoue, too. The Monster has been at super-bantamweight for two and a half years now, having previously conquered two of the same divisions as Nakatani. Still, Inoue’s first world title came at light-flyweight, where he was smaller than Nakatani has ever been. In that way, maybe Nakatani will fill out at super-bantamweight more easily than his compatriot did.

As with Joshua vs Paul, there are many questions to be answered. But while Saudi involvement makes Inoue vs Nakatani a problematic saga, many fans will see it as a more palatable take on pugilism.