By Jake Donovan

Naoya Inoue is hopeful the biggest fight of his career to date is also a family affair.

The unbeaten pound-for-pound entrant and reigning bantamweight titlist is awaiting final confirmation of a date and location for his title unification clash versus Nonito Donaire. The bout serves as the finals of the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament, with the event being targeted for November according to Ohashi Promotions, who made the claim during a press conference Thursday in Inoue’s hometown of Yokohoma, Japan.

WBSS representatives have declined comment to BoxingScene.com, other than to state talks are ongoing for hosting venues around the world, which in turn will influence when and where the event takes place.

Should the bout land in Japan—with the Kyocera Osaka Dome among the venues under consideration—the hope among Ohashi Promotions is to arrange for Inoue’s younger brother Takuma Inoue (13-0, 3KOs) to appear in a title consolidation clash with unbeaten reigning WBC 118-pound title claimant Nordine Oubaali, who is due to honor his mandatory following a knockout win over Arthur Villanueva in an optional defense earlier this month. 

Donaire (40-5, 26KOs) and Inoue (18-0, 16KOs) both stormed to the finals on the heels of spectacular knockout wins earlier this spring.

A long delay in getting to the WBSS semifinals also saw Donaire endure an opponent change late in the game, settling for Stephon Young whom he annihilated in six rounds this past April. The win counts the same in the tournament bracket but was downgraded from a unification bout to a title defense after originally schedule Zolani Tete suffered an injury just days before the fight and was forced to withdraw.

Three weeks later, Inoue plead his latest case in-ring as to why he should be regarded as the sport’s best pound-for-pound boxer today. He became a three-division titlist with a bang, upgrading from his interim bantamweight title status with a two-round destruction of previously unbeaten title claimant Emmanuel Rodriguez this past May in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Inoue entered the semifinals following his 70-second wipeout of former titlist Juan Carlos Payano last October in his Yokohoma hometown. The bout formally kicked off season two of the WBSS, coming 10 weeks prior to Takuma claiming the WBC interim title after outpointing Petch Sor Chitpattana in a battle of unbeaten contenders in Tokyo, Japan.

Takuma Inoue made his debut on a Dec. 2013 show also including his older brother, the first of nine times they shared a bill together.

Naoya’s aforementioned win over Rodriguez marked the only time in his career in which he claimed a title on a card that didn’t include his brother. Prior to the start of the WBSS, Takuma had fought on just two shows not involving his brother—July 2015 when Naoya was out for most of the year with an injury; and Aug. 2017, fighting at home just one week prior to Naoya making his U.S. debut.

With any luck, the two will be reunited for their next respective fights, the biggest to date in the career of each.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox