Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani and Japan's chase for a once-in-a-generation prizefight

Naoya Inoue went through Mexicans, Americans, a Frenchman, two Englishmen, a Dominican, a Puerto Rican, more than one Filipino, an Australian, a Thai, an Irishman, a Korean and an Uzbek, only to realize that it was right there in front of him all along. It’s funny. For all the benefits of taking the scenic route, Inoue’s true test waited for him at home, just next door.

It came not from an export or visitor, this test, but in the form of someone with whom Inoue was familiar and whose language was the same as his own. It came in the form of a compatriot: Junto Nakatani. Nakatani, who fights Inoue on Saturday for boxing’s undisputed super bantamweight championship, will be the first Japanese fighter Inoue has faced for almost a decade.

Kohei Kono, a super flyweight, was the last man from Japan to have the questionable privilege of fighting Inoue and he was stopped in the sixth round of a WBO super flyweight title defense in late 2016. Since then, fueled by a desire to prove his greatness, Inoue has embarked on what can only be described as a world tour, taking on the best contenders and champions the world’s various other territories have had to offer. Sometimes he has had to travel to fight these opponents — trips to the U.

S. and Saudi Arabia, for instance — but for the most part, such is Inoue’s power, he has been able to entice many of his opponents to his house, often fighting them in Tokyo. Naoya Inoue (L), boxing's undisputed super bantamweight champion, and Junto Nakatani in Tokyo.