Inoue scores unanimous decision win over Nakatani to remain undisputed

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

And that is why he is called the “Monster.”

On May 2, 2026, Naoya Inoue remained the undisputed king of the super bantamweight division after beating Junto Nakatani via unanimous decision, 116-112, 115-113, 116-112, at Tokyo Dome.

With the win, Inoue retained his World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, and World Boxing Organization super bantamweight belts while improving his undefeated professional record to 33 wins, 27 knockouts, and 0 losses.

The thousands in attendance who watched the Japanese pugs duke it out inside the ring witnessed a highly technical chess match as both experienced fighters brought out all the tricks up their sleeves during the 12-round marathon.

Inoue established himself first by controlling distance with snappy jabs and fluid footwork while also parrying the majority of Nakatani’s offense with his head movement.

When Round 4 came, he began to widen his lead on the scorecards as he sent out a flurry of jab-uppercut combinations that Nakatani didn’t see coming.

Instead of firing his signature double jab into a left straight, Inoue rolled the dice and kept Nakatani on his heels with a series of unpredictable combinations, including the jab-uppercut connection.

However, Nakatani showed some signs of life when Round 6 began as he finally cracked Inoue’s tight defensive guard with clean right straights.

Nakatani followed his corner’s orders and amped up the pressure, pinning Inoue on the ropes several times, which he capitalized on to earn some points.

Just when Nakatani thought he had already settled in, Inoue bagged crucial rounds in the 10th and 11th as he reverted to maintaining the distance to stay away from trouble on the ropes.

Inoue tagged Nakatani with four vicious left hooks in the 10th round, followed by a masterclass in the 11th, which proved to be the turning point for all three ringside judges.

Despite Nakatani landing a decent jab counter in the 12th and final round, Inoue’s built-up lead was already hard to overcome, resulting in the unanimous decision win.