Inoue vs Picasso Will Headline Riyadh Season Card on Dec 27

Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, announced a ground-breaking Riyadh Season card for Saturday, December 27, with a loaded lineup of the biggest fighters from Japan showcasing their talents in the ring at Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh.

Headlining the card is Inoue vs Picasso: undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue against challenger 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 of Yokohama, Japan (31-0, 27 KOs), a multi-division world champion, will look to further enhance his impressive record against Picasso of Mexico (32-0-1, 17 KOs), the WBC number one ranked contender at 122 pounds.

On September 21, 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 of Japan (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 of Mexico (20-0, 18 KOs).

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 118 pounds with a brutal sixth-round stoppage of Ryosuke Nishida, while Hernandez, ranked #9 by The Ring, #8 by the WBC, and #10 by the WBO, secured a unanimous decision win against Azat Hovhannisyan in May.

Assuming both Inoue and Nakatani win their bouts, it will set up the superfight between the two best Japanese boxers of this generation in a super fight at the Tokyo Dome in the first half of 2026. Put your travel agent on speed dial.

Inoue vs Picasso Undercard

It’s an all Japanese A-side undercard on December 27 in support of Inoue vs Picasso.

The popular 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 Willibaldo Garcia Perez of Mexico (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, 5 KOs) takes on WBA lightweight number four Armando Martinez of Cuba (16-0, 15 KOs) while Tsutsumi brothers Reito (3-0, 2 KOs) and Hayato (8-0, 5 KOs) get ready to face Mexico’s Leobardo Quintana (11-1, 5 KOs) and British fighter James “Jazza” Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs), respectively.