Preview On Night Of The Samurai Show In Riyadh

By Joe Koizumi

Photos by Naoki Fukuda

This reporter has been watching boxing for almost seventy years, also being a long-time video collector of numerous fight clips of Jimmy Wilde, Pancho Villa, Benny Leonard, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey etc. It is my great pleasure to write compact previews on the four contests of the Night of the Samurai show today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Undisputed super bantamweight title bout

Naoya Inoue vs. Alan David Picasso

“Monster” Naoya’s knockout streak stopped at eleven when he gave a sound boxing lesson to Murodjon Akhmadaliev and beat him on points in Japan this September. He is a prohibitive favorite today thanks to his superior experience against such name and tough opposition as Stephen Fulton (TKO8), Nonito Donaire (W12, TKO2), Marlon Tapales (KO10) and Luis Nery (TKO6). The KO artist Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) said, “I wish to score a knockout victory this time.” But Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KO), seven years his junior at 25, is a young and ambitious Mexican challenger. Naoya is like a mathematic puzzle, while all mathematicians (competitors and trainers) over the world are desperately trying to solve the riddle. Even though being a huge prefight favorite, Naoya had better be careful against Picasso’s unexpected weapon to target the champion. Picasso has come here to dethrone Inoue, not to paint a drawing.

Junto Nakatani vs. Sebastian Hernandez

For Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs), this is a tune-up fight prior to his forthcoming fight of life against “Monster” Inoue reportedly scheduled next May. Having renounced his third-division bantam belts (WBC, IBF) after halting Ryosuke Nishida in a unification bout this June, Junto has been remodeling himself with his handler Rudy Hernandez to fight in the 122-pound category. Tall puzzling southpaw Nakatani will engage in his first super bantam bout against also unbeaten Mexican Hernandez. An inch taller and two years younger, Hernandez (20-0, 18 KOs) will be an ideal stepping stone for Nakatani to test his fists in this important tune-up bout.

Taiga Imanaga vs. Eridson Garcia

5’10” tall southpaw Imanaga (9-0, 5 KOs; ten-time amateur national champ with a 113-13 mark) is a highly expected prospect with physical power and improving skills. Though Japan has recently produced many excellent small boxers, we haven’t lately seen good success in heavier categories over the feather division. Our outstanding lightweight prospects have been badly beaten—Masayoshi Nakatani by Teofimo Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko, Shuichiro Yoshino by Shakur Stevenson and Hironori Mishiro by Andy Cruz all in US. There might exist a wall for Japanese 135-pounders to climb up to the international top. Eridson Garcia (22-1, 13 KOs), of Dominican Republic, recently defeated William Foster III, and acquired the vacant WBO NABO 130-pound belt by halting Cristian Hernandz both in US to his credit. It will be a confrontation of southpaws, where Imanaga’s potential will be tested against the more experienced Dominican.

Reito Tsutsumi vs. Leobaldo Quintana

Reito (3-0, 2 KOs; amateur 57-2) once acquired the AIBA world youth championship in the flyweight class in 2021. He followed his brother Hayato’s footstep and entered the paid ranks. He was fortunately scouted by Riyadh Season and made a successful pro debut in New York to fight all three pro bouts abroad without appearing in Japan. His rival Quintana (12-1, 5 KOs) may try to give him a tough battle, but Reito’s faster combinations will dominate this contest.

This reporter remembers good old days. Japanese underdog Kuniaki Shibata upset and dethroned invincible world feather champ Vicente Saldivar in Mexico in 1970 but forfeited his belt to Mexican underdog Clemente Sanchez in Japan two years later. Anything may happen in the ring. We now watch the five Japanese samurai warriors prove their fists or not in Riyadh.

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