Why Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani is bigger than you could possibly imagine
FIGHT OF THE YEAR: This undisputed-title clash is a generational fight, as Steve Bunce writes, and perhaps the biggest one right now without a direct tie to the US or UK
On Saturday morning in Tokyo , 55,000 people will sit down in silence for the greatest Japanese fight in history. The Tokyo Dome is sold out; the fight will stop a nation and the pay-per-view numbers might set a global record. The Japanese boxing renaissance is in full and beautiful flow: Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani are their two biggest stars.
Inoue’s figures are truly astounding, but Nakatani’s are similar; it is the rarest of fights in the most exotic of boxing locations . Two unbeaten men, both Japanese and both at their peaks, with multiple world championship belts on the line . It is the type of fight that can be compared to the long-overdue showdown between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in their “Fight of the Century” over 50 years ago.
It is also, arguably, the biggest fight to take place anywhere in the world between two boxers without direct USA or UK interest. Naoya Inoue (centre) will face Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome (left) in a generational fight (Getty Images) Some of the giant fights on recent Saudi Arabian nights, and the long list of brawls involving the Klitschko brothers, had a similar feel, but Inoue vs Nakatani is different. It feels epic, the numbers are off the scale.
Inoue is defending his four super-bantamweight belts, and Nakatani is moving up four pounds from bantamweight and leaving behind two belts. They are both unbeaten in 32 fights; Inoue has stopped or knocked out 27 of his opponents, Nakatani has finished 24 quick. Inoue is five years older at 33, and first won a world title when he was 21 – at light-flyweight in just his sixth fight; it was the start of the renaissance.