Naoya “The Monster” Inoue will next defend his undisputed junior-featherweight crown against interim WBA titlist Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev on September 14 at a IG Arena - a showdown Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn heralds as “the best fight in the division.”
The date fulfills the timeline laid out by Inoue and promoter Hideyuki Ohashi: at least three fights this calendar year. Inoue launched that push with a fourth-round KO of late substitute Ye Joon Kim in January, a stay-busy bout taken after IBF mandatory Sam Goodman twice withdrew injured. Sunday’s ESPN-televised defense versus Cardenas will be his fourth as undisputed and fifth of the WBC/WBO straps.
Watch the best moments of Naoya Inoue: Watch
Akhmadaliev, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, has chafed at repeated delays. Twice in 2024 the WBA ordered Inoue to face its mandatory challenger, only to grant concessions for voluntary tilts with TJ Doheny and Goodman. MJ kept busy by thrashing Ricardo Espinoza for the interim belt last December in Monte Carlo and has waited ever since—surfacing mainly in co-promoter Hearn’s interviews to remind the public he was next in line.
Stylistically the matchup pits Inoue’s surgical ferocity against Akhmadaliev’s southpaw relentlessness - elite timing versus relentless angles. It also completes WBA title consolidation, removing the “interim” title and giving the winner total command of the 122-pound landscape.
Fight card:
▪️Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev, 12 rounds, for the IBF, WBC and WBO World super bantamweight titles
▪️Yoshiki Takei vs. Christian Medina Jimenez, 12 rounds, for the WBO World bantamweight title
▪️Yuni Takada vs. Ryusei Matsumoto, 12 rounds, minimumweight
▪️Yudai Murakami vs. Taiga Imanaga, 10 rounds, for the vacant Japanese light title
▪️Ei Go vs. Shunpei Ohata, 8 rounds, super featherweight
▪️Toshiki Shimomachi vs. Han Sol Lee, 8 rounds, super bantamweight
▪️Taisei Ayano vs. Yusuke Nawa, 4 rounds, bantamweight
