The Ring V results yielded one upset and one near upset, a little holiday spice for the last major boxing card of 2025. There was no banana-peel slip preventing the anticipated Japanese superfight of 2026 between Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani. But fans might need to wait longer for Inoue vs Nakatani than anticipated.
Nakatani Squeaks Out Win Over Hernandez
In the night’s most anticipated fight by many, the co-main event nearly delivered a stunning upset. But Junto Nakatani of Japan (32-0, 24 KOs) escaped an upset loss to a determined, driven Sebastian Hernandez Reyes of San Diego via Tijuana, Mexico (20-1, 18 KOs). Hernandez proved he’s worthy of the bigger stages, coming on strong throughout the second half of the fight to take Nakatani to the woodshed. Judges scored it 115-113, 115-113, and an outrageous 118-110 for Nakatani.
Highlights From Nakatani vs Hernandez
Nakatani was in full control in the early rounds, and it appeared he would have a relatively easy night. Hernandez had other plans. Behind a relentless work rate driven by the stamina Hernandez developed training at high altitude at Emanual Navarrete’s camp in the Mexican interior mountains, he did not give Nakatani any room to work, often chasing him down and forcing Nakatani to slug it out with him.
Trainer Rudy Hernandez (no relation) urged Nakatani to hold and punch from lateral angles, but it was all but impossible. In the tenth round, Hernandez badly damaged Nakatani’s right eye, which continued to swell and must have blocked his vision by the final bell.
“It was a great match. He was a tough and great fighter,” said Nakatani of Hernandez. “It was a great learning experience for me,” adding he was grateful for the opportunity to grow.
Hernandez deserved to be rewarded for his pressure and his terrific body work and hooks. Nakatani had to rely more on his upper-body movement and defensive skills, and that’s not a bad thing, given The Monster lies ahead. Hernandez will be warmly welcomed back by fans who discovered a new Mexican action star, even with the loss.
Inoue Coasts to Win Over Picasso
Four division world champion and unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue of Yokohama (32-0, 27 KOs) got a spirited challenge from a completely outgunned Alan David Picasso of Cuauhtémoc, Colima, Mexico (32-1-1, 17 KOs), winning an overwhelming unanimous decision with ease by scores of 120-108, 119-109, and a generous 117-111.
Inoue vs Picasso Highlights
Credit to Picasso, who made it to the final bell despite being a 25-to-1 underdog and widely expected to be stopped in the later rounds. The superiority of Inoue’s blazing handspeed, tricky feints, footwork, and power shots left Picasso without much to offer in return other than determination.
Inoue’s eye-catching uppercuts and body shots came out to play, thrilling fans ringside in Riyadh, including heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk and former middleweight world champion and newest Hall of Fame honoree Gennadiy Golovkin, now the head of World Boxing.
Inoue was hard on his performance. “My performance tonight is not good enough. I should have done better. I’m very happy I could win, but after I’m really tired. I have to rest for a while,” smiled Inoue.
Acknowledging the heavyweight champ, Inoue said, “Tonight Mr. Usyk is here to see my match, but I wasn’t happy with my performance… So I learn from this. I’m going to be much better next time.”
Inoue vs Nakatani Outlook: Still A Fifty-Fifty Fight?
That “next time” is the Japanese mega-fight so highly anticipated by so many with Nakatani. Asked directly about it, Inoue said, “So for the next year, we will leave it to (promoter) Mr. Ohashi to decide what to do. But for the Japanese fans, you can expect something very good.”
Based on the performances Saturday in Saudi Arabia, thinking about the super fight being a true fifty-fifty fight is worth rethinking. Inoue has to emerge as the favorite, given the near-disaster for Nakatani. But Inoue didn’t set the world on fire with his performance. However, there was a purpose to Inoue’s game plan, no doubt crafted by his father and trainer Shingo Inoue.
Inoue’s skill set is unmatched in boxing by anyone not named Terence Crawford. As he demonstrated against Picasso, few fighters can keep up with his speed or anticipate his angles of attack. His power is impressive, and it’s held up well as he has risen through five weight divisions. He has no need to get into a phone booth war with anyone to win.
But Inoue has admitted he loves to brawl, and he acknowledged it after suffering a dangerous knockdown from Ramon Cardenas last May. After the knockdown from Cardenas, which was his second after the shocking first knockdown of his career against Luis Nery of Mexico, Inoue knows he can’t be playing around against an opponent with power and the skill to back it up like Junto Nakatani.
It’s clear to me Saturday’s fight was Inoue’s dress rehearsal for dealing with Nakatani. It’s ironic to see it after Nakatani showed some vulnerability against Hernandez. It was Nakatani’s first fight at 122 pounds, and perhaps he wasn’t feeling his power carrying up to a higher weight division.
Facing someone with the handspeed and power of Inoue, Nakatani will still be a formidable opponent, but now takes the underdog role. Depending on the severity of his eye injury, fans may need to wait well into 2026 for the matchup they want to see.
Inoue added he would be open to a fight with fast-rising American star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez of San Antonio. Inoue said as long as Rodriguez will fight him at super bantamweight (122 pounds, which is a two-division jump for Bam), he’s game.
Undercard Upset For Eridson Garcia
Highly touted lightweight Taiga Imanaga was on the fast track for a title fight in 2025. But Edison Garcia had other plans. Imanaga of Yokohama, Japan (9-1, 5 KOs) met his match in a motivated Garcia of the Dominican Republic, who trains in Houston (23-1, 14 KOs). His efforts were rewarded with a split decision victory. Scorecards were 96-93 and 95-94 for Garcia, and 95-94 for Imanaga.
Garcia, who came in as a late replacement opponent, did not let the opportunity slip through his fingers. A new father of a daughter with health issues, he had extra motivation and nothing to lose. Much like his countryman Junto Nakatani, Imanaga won the early rounds.
But once Garcia settled in and settled down, he took over. He caught Imanaga with hard punches at the end of round three, and it gave him confidence. He stepped his offense, landing impressive hooks from both sides.
In round eight, Garcia busted Imanaga’s nose, which bled profusely through the end of the fight. Like Nakatani, Imanaga also suffered damage to his right eye. Garcia easily won the second half of the fight, and behind the knockdown, the judges got it right.
“I was completely confident I had won my fight,” said Garcia, despite feeling he didn’t have sufficient training time. “So, what I did during the fight when I saw my opponent was hurt, I took full advantage of it. You just need to give me the opportunity. I’ll face anyone.”
In the opening bout, super featherweight prospect Reito Tsutsumi of Tokyo (4-0, 3 KOs) handled Leobardo Quintana of Mexicali, Mexico (12-2, 5 KOs) with ease. The 23-year-old trained by Ismael Salas in Las Vegas credited a wide variety of sparring partners after he dropped Quintana with an impressive three-punch combination of a left/right/left hook to the head of Quintana to score the TKO win when Quintana rose but was obviously in no condition to continue at 1:14 of round four.
Due to a late injury apparently suffered in sparring by IBF World Super Flyweight champion Willibaldo Garcia (23-6-2, 13 KOs), his title defense against popular Japanese veteran Kenshiro Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs) was cancelled. The winner is a candidate to face Bam Rodriguez for a unification fight crowning the undisputed champion at super flyweight, but that will have to wait.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist and the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). She is the Managing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.