Inoue-Picasso Headline Ring V: Night Of The Samurai

HE Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, has today announced a ground-breaking Riyadh Season card for Saturday December 27 that will see some of the biggest fighters from Japan showcase their talents in the ring at Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, headlined by undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue and Alan Picasso. ‘Ring V: Night of the Samurai’ will be streamed live worldwide on DAZN, as well as on Lemino in Japan. Regarded as Japan’s greatest fighter of all time, Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs), a multi division world champion, will look to further enhance his impressive record against Mexico’s Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KOs), the WBC No.1-ranked contender at 122lb.

Last weekend, Inoue successfully defended his status as undisputed world champion with an emphatic unanimous decision win over Murodjon Akhmadaliev. He will now compete in his first fight in Saudi Arabia when he faces Picasso, who preserved his unbeaten record in July courtesy of a majority decision victory over Kyonosuke Kameda.

Junto Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs), the reigning unified bantamweight champion, will fight at super bantamweight for the first time when he goes up against the top 10-ranked Sebastian Hernandez (20-0, 18 KOs) of Mexico. Nakatani has solidified his status as one of boxing’s elite fighters having held world titles in three different weight classes and most recently unified the WBC and IBF titles at 118lb with a brutal sixth-round stoppage of Ryosuke Nishida, while Hernandez, rankedNo.9 by The Ring, No.8 by the WBC, and No.10 by the WBO, secured a unanimous decision win against Azat Hovhannisyan in May.

Kenshiro Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs) returns to the ring in his first bout since losing the WBA and WBC flyweight titles to Ricardo Sandoval via split decision, when he takes on Mexico’s Willibaldo Garcia Perez (23-6-2, 13 KOs), who claimed the first world title of his career in May with a split decision win against Rene Calixto Bibiano for the vacant IBF super flyweight belt.

Completing this thrilling ‘Ring V: Night of the Samurai’ lineup, Taiga Imanaga (9-0, 5KOs) takes on WBA lightweight No.4 Armando Martinez (16-0, 15 KOs) from Cuba, while Tsutsumi brothers Reito (3-0, 2 KOs) and Hayato (8-0, 5 KOs) get ready to face Mexico’s Leobardo Quintana (11-1, 5KOs) and British fighter James Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs), respectively.

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