Modern great Naoya Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) will defend his undisputed super-bantamweight championship to unbeaten contender Alan David Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KOs) on December 27 at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Saudi Arabia.
The Riyadh Season event will be titled ‘Ring V: Night of the Samurai’, streamed globally on DAZN and on Lemino in Japan, and features a host of Japanese fighters as ‘The Monster’ makes his first appearance in Saudi Arabia.
Both Inoue and Picasso are unbeaten in over 30 bouts, setting the stage for a competitive showdown.
However, Inoue’s dominance in his last fight, this month on September 14, led promoter Bob Arum to praise him as “a complete fighter”.
The 32-year-old four-weight world champion saw off challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev with scores of 117-111 and 118-110 twice in a very one-sided fight.
In the sixth defence of his two-year reign as undisputed super-bantamweight king, the Japanese hero faces the challenge of 25-year-old Mexican, Alan David Picasso, who hasn’t lost in 33 bouts.
He has 32 victories and just one draw, which came very early on in his career, in his fifth fight – a six-rounder cut short in the fourth round via a technical decision.
The Mexican has won WBC Silver and Youth Continental titles at super-bantamweight to become ranked WBC #1.
He won his last fight in July on the Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, securing a mixed decision win over Kyonsuke Kameda.
The youngster has fought just three times in the States, with the rest of his 30 fights taking place in his native Mexico.
The undercard will see a selection of Japanese boxers taking the stage as potential future foe for Inoue, Junto Nakatani, meets Mexican Sebastian Hernandez Reyes, who are both unbeaten with 50 wins between them.
Also, ‘The Amazing Boy’ Kenshiro Teraji moves up in weight to challenge champion Willibaldo Garcia Perez for his IBF world super-flyweight title, as unbeaten prospect Hayato Tsutsumi tackles British boxer Jazza Dickens for his WBA Interim super-featherweight title, plus lightweight Taiga Imanaga and super-bantamweight Reito Tsutsumi are also in action.
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