Japanese superstar and pound-for-pound leader (in the opinion of many) Naoya Inoue did not take at all kindly to the recent comments the trainer of his countryman, Junto Nakatani made with regards to their much talk about all-Japanese super fight. Rudy Hernandez, the trainer of the unbeaten Nakatani, said to The Ring that he “doesn’t want to hear the excuse that we got Inoue when he was older.”
Hernandez said he wants his fighter – who he is certain will defeat Inoue if/when the fight happens – to “get a better version of Inoue rather than an older version.”
Inoue vs. Nakatani heating up—and it’s still a year away
The Inoue Vs. Nakatani fight is likely for next year, with both men having upcoming business to attend to first – Inoue is to face mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev, and then, perhaps, he will take a fight in Saudi Arabia before the end of the year, while Nakatani, who is 27 years old, must come through his June fight with the unbeaten Ryosuke Nishida, this in a WBC/IBF bantamweight unification showdown.
But all being well, Inoue-Nakatani, this a fight that would see two of the best lower-weight operators on the scene today going at it, will happen in 2026. And as far as there being any decline in his skills, Inoue shot back, saying there is no decline at all.
Inoue, 30-0(27) and now 32 years of age, put comments of his own on social media, in which he made it clear he will still be “at my peak next year,” with him adding that he is “not slowing down.”
No excuses, no decline—Inoue says the Monster is still peaking
“The Monster” spoke with The Ring on the subject of when he may feel it will be time to hang up the gloves.
“I want to close my fighting career when the time is right,” Inoue said. “I think I have about three years left, including this year. I don’t feel any decline in my physical strength or performance yet, but I’m sure that someday that day will come. I have to plan my training and my fights with that in mind. As a human being, I’m sure I will inevitably decline. So I think it’s important to know myself.”
Honest and sensibly realistic words from Inoue there. No fighter, no matter how great, can keep Father Time at bay forever. The thought, or the whispers, that Inoue may be on a slow decline came about due to the fact that he was knocked down in his last fight, this against Ramon Cardenas. But Inoue, like any fighter, can get tagged. It’s how a fighter deals with the situation that counts, and Inoue kept his composure, he listened to the count, and he got back up, thus showing great recuperative powers. Inoue’s was not the performance of a fighter in decline.
But of course Nakatani and his team are confident they can inflict the first loss on Inoue’s career, and they want to fight him sooner rather than later.
Again, Inoue has to get past Akhmadaliev, 13-1(10) while Nakatani, 30-0(23) has to defeat the 10-0(2) Nishida. But then, next May, we could see one of the biggest fights ever staged in Japan. And neither man will want to lose. Or have any excuses after the fight.