Murodjon Akhmadaliev stood and grinned during the entirety of a second post-weigh-in staredown with Naoya Inoue. 

Both fighters came in under the 122lbs divisional limit for their undisputed championship affair this Sunday at the state-of-the-art IG Arena in Nagoya, Japan. 

Inoue checked in at 121.8 pounds ahead of his sixth overall junior featherweight title defense and fifth as the fully unified champ. Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev was a trim and fit 121.3 pounds for his first career fight in Japan. 

Yokohama’s Inoue, 30-0 (27 KOs), was in the general range of his weight for all of his previous fights at junior featherweight. 

He was just inside the limit for knockout wins over Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales in back-to-back wins to fully unify the 122lbs division. The unbeaten pound-for-pound star was also under 122 in stoppage victories over Luis Nery and Ye Joon Kim, and right at the division mark when he defeated TJ Doheny and Ramon Cardenas inside the distance. 

All told, Inoue has stopped his last eleven opponents, all in championship fights. His wins over Nery and most recently against Cardenas saw Inoue forced to overcome early knockdowns to ultimately prevail.

Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev, 14-1 (11 KOs), has consistently weighed well inside the divisional limit dating back to his January 2020 WBA/IBF unified title win over Daniel Roman. The only time he’s come in right at the 122lbs mark was in his most recent outing, an eighth-round stoppage of Luis Castillo on May 30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

The win was the third in a row for Akhmadaliev since a controversial April 2023 defeat to Tapales which ended his title reign. 

More than ever is at stake for Inoue, aside from his collection of junior featherweight titles. A win will set up a December 27 title defense against Mexico’s Alan David Picasso in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The same show is expected to house the junior featherweight debut of Japan’s three-division champ Junto Nakatani, 31-0 (24 KOs). 

From there, wins by Inoue and Nakatani are expected to lead to what would be the biggest all-Japanese fight in boxing history. 

Needless to say, an upset win by Akhmadaliev – a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist – will tear to shreds those lofty plans.

Inoue-Akhmadaliev will air live on Lemino in Japan, on Top Rank’s Facebook page in the U.S., U.K. and the Philippines, and ESPN Knockout in Latin America. 

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.