On December 27, the Samurai Night tournament was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As part of the main event of the card, Japanese absolute world champion Naoya Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) defended his status in the fight against 25-year-old Mexican representative David Allen Picasso (32-1-1, 17 KOs).

This was Naoya’s fourth fight of 2025. He made a confident move towards the Japanese mega-fight against Junto Nakatani, who also boxed on the card.

Picasso didn’t stand a chance. Inoue showed that boxing is ten times better!

Naoya Inoue is the absolute most active and generally the most active boxer among those who are usually among the leaders in the pound-for-pound rankings (the best boxers outside their weight categories). Terence Crawford has been away from the ring for a year. He returned to defeat Saul Alvarez before announcing his retirement.

Alexander Usyk returned to the ring faster. He beat Daniel Dubois in 5 rounds and refused to box again. He even left his WBO belt vacant because he didn’t want to fight Fabio Wardley.

Naoya Inoue promised to get in the ring four times and he kept his promise. Moreover, he was not afraid of anyone. Organizations met anyone they put in front of them. Thus, he defeated Ye Jun Kim, Ramon Cardenas and Murodjon Akhmadaliev. And today David Picasso.

The Mexican was not considered the main threat to the Japanese on this list. This status was given to him only by Mexicans and Picasso’s fans. However, Murodjon Akhmadaliev was considered the main contender for victory. And the Japanese, by the decision of the judges, defeated him without any chance.

With his long arms, great height and good striking ability, Picasso was still not the number one candidate to win. But it’s a pretty good competitor and boxer to say this wasn’t a close match. But Inoue created the conditions to make it seem like the opponent was a nobody.

Naoya did whatever he wanted in the ring. I wanted to pin him near the ropes and in the corners. If he wanted, he could take his opponent out of there. He boxed if necessary. You quarreled with your opponent if you need to give something new. He hit my head and hit my torso. The only thing Inoue couldn’t achieve was a knockout.

The Japanese hit hard. Many of them were achieved with clean blows. But David Picasso endured. He withstood everything: both in the head and in the body. Both combination hits and one-time hits. Credit must be given to the Mexican here.

Picasso also landed some good left hooks. They dribbled past the opponent’s defense and didn’t exactly stun him, but they struck often enough to make those shots count. At the same time, David’s team also paid attention to this. They said until the end that this was his chance. They motivated him before the championship round by telling him that all he had to do was hit the side kick and everything would come.

However, the conversations remained at the level of theoretical visions of the situation. Picasso’s hits posed no real threat to Inoue. Naoya ate what he slept on. And he did not allow others to hit him.

Final referee decisions: 119–109, 120–108 and 117–111. Unanimous decision in favor of the Japanese champion.

What happens now?

If nothing goes wrong, there is a meeting with Junto Nakatani in the future. What could get in your way? It’s hard to come up with ideas here. Maybe it’s a fight that makes even more money.

But it is difficult to imagine such a rival right now. Inoue won’t go higher yet. And the same Jesse Rodriguez will not be promoted from the minor leagues yet.

Does Junto have a chance? Theoretically, everyone has a chance. The problem is the practicality of using all this. Nakatani showed that he had many problems.

His match against Sebastian Reyes was not an outstanding start in the new league, but something resembling a defeat. It cannot be said that Junto definitely lost. However, he did not win. A draw would be a logical decision.

Reyes hit too hard and caused a hematoma to form on his opponent’s face. And Nakatani lasted so long against his opponent that Inoue could have knocked him out more than once during this period.

but confrontation will still sell. First of all, the dominant Naoi no longer has any other rivals. He needs to switch majors to get them, and he doesn’t plan on doing that. Secondly, everyone in Japan will come to see the two idols. It will be possible to fill any large arena. You can even sell streams to local audiences. And these are excellent controls and just a historical event.

A competitive struggle is not always a profitable one. The meeting between Spence and Crawford wasn’t competitive, but it worked. More than 30 million people watched the fight between Joshua and Paul, but it was not clear what happened. Nakatani vs. Inoue looks like a fight that could be both more competitive and raise enough money.

And if it doesn’t work competitively, nothing can be done. This means Naoya will prove once again that he is the undisputed leaderR.