Naoya Inoue outshines Junto Nakatani in Tokyo showdown to keep super-bantamweight title

• Champion nicknamed the Monster holds off late surge

• Both boxers had unbeaten records entering Saturday

• Battle billed as biggest fight in Japanese boxing history

Naoya Inoue successfully defended his undisputed super-bantamweight championship with https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/may/02/naoya-inoue-v-junto-nakatani-fight-live-updates">a close but uncontroversial 12-round unanimous decision over Junto Nakatani in their eagerly anticipated showdown at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.

Before a sellout crowd of about 55,000 spectators during Japan’s Golden Week holiday, Inoue held off a fierce late surge from his unbeaten rival to win by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113 and retain the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO belts at 122lb, extending his perfect record in what had been billed as https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/01/naoya-inoue-junto-nakatani-fight-preview">the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history. (The Guardian had it 115-113 for Inoue.)