The word is, according to Turki Alalshikh, that unified super-bantamweight king Naoya Inoue is close to agreeing a December fight with Mexican contender Alan Picasso, the fight to take place during the Christmas holidays, this on December 27th. Reportedly, the card is being planned as a Mexico Vs. Japan type theme, with Japanese fighters going in with Mexican fighters along with Mexican-American fighters.
Fans may recall that, back in February of this year, Picasso – taking advice from the great Erik Morales, who told Picasso he was not yet ready to tackle “The Monster” – withdrew from the fight. Ramon Cardenas stepped in, and he gave Inoue hell before being stopped in a great battle. Now, it seems Inoue is ready to revisit the fight with unbeaten contender Picasso.
First, though, Inoue, 30-0(27) has to come through okay against WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev, this in September in Tokyo. Eddie Hearn is firmly of the belief that this is a 50/50 fight, and others do see “MJ” giving Inoue a heck of tough fight.
While Picasso, 31-0-1(17) must come through his July 19 fight against Kyonosuke Kameda, who he will face on the Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao card in Las Vegas. But if both men do win, it could be that Inoue sticks around at 122 pounds for a little while longer in defending against Picasso at the end of the year, in what would be Inoue’s fourth fight of 2025.
As to what the other Mexican Vs. Japanese match-ups could be, well, that is food for thought. There are some great Japanese lower-weight warriors operating right now, as there are some great lower-weight Mexicans and Mexican-American fighters doing their thing.
Speaking of Inoue, is it possible the pound-for-pounder and future Hall of Famer might never make that talked of move to the featherweight division? Maybe. Inoue has said numerous times that he will only make the move if he feels it is the right thing to do, with his body telling him it’s time to add on those additional four-pounds. Inoue has won world titles at an impressive four weights, and maybe he feels this is enough.
