Naoya Inoue, Junto Nakatani both win to set up 2026 megafight - ESPN

Japanese boxing rivals Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani set up one of the biggest fights for 2026 after both registered wins Saturday.

Undisputed junior featherweight champion Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) outclassed David Picasso to win by unanimous scores of 119-109, 120-108 and 117-111 at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) made a victorious debut at junior featherweight but endured the toughest fight of his career to prevail by a unanimous points decision (115-113, 115-113 and 118-110) over Sebastian Hernandez.

Inoue vs. Nakatani will be the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history and will see two of the world's best pound-for-pound fighters, both unbeaten, face each other for Inoue's 122-pounds title belts.

It was not quite a masterpiece from Inoue vs. Picasso, as it lacked a knockout finish, but the dominant win sets up the first megafight of 2026. It remains to be seen whether English heavyweight rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, former world champions, will face each other after five years of attempts, speculation and unfulfilled agreements.

Inoue, 32, a world champion in four weight classes, made a seventh junior featherweight title defense as he consistently beat Picasso to the punch and repeatedly targeted the body.

Inoue has shown vulnerability in recent fights — he recovered from knockdowns in two of his previous five fights — but his speed, skill and power were levels above Picasso's in his fourth fight this year.

«I wasn't very happy about my performance, I could have done much better, so I will learn from this and be much better next time,» Inoue said, while admitting he was spent after a busy year. «I'm very happy that I could win four matches this year, but