This weekend’s boxing headlines will be dominated by Saturday’s bout between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford. But there’s another pound-for-pound elite in action over the weekend when Naoya Inoue defends his undisputed junior featherweight championship against Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
Akhmadaliev (14-1, 11 KO) has long been seen as one of Inoue’s most intriguing challengers and has been in line as Inoue’s lone available mandatory challenger via the WBA. Some of Akhmadaliev’s momentum was halted in April 2023, when he lost a split decision to Marlon Tapales, losing the WBA and IBF junior featherweight titles in the process.
Since the loss to Tapales, Akhmadaliev has rattled off a trio of TKO victories over mid-tier opposition.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KO) is a far different beast than the men Akhmadaliev has recently defeated. Inoue is a wrecking ball with huge power who has steadily climbed the pound-for-pound ranks, where he now sits in the No. 1 spot for many.
Despite his skills and power, Inoue has found himself in some dangerous spots in recent fights. In May 2024, Inoue suffered the first knockdown of his career when he was caught clean by Luis Nery in the first round of their fight. After straightforward stoppage wins over TJ Doheny and Kim Ye-joon, Inoue again found himself climbing off the canvas when Ramon Cardenas caught him with a clean shot.
Inoue was able to recover and stop both Nery and Cardenas, but it appeared that a clear vulnerability had been discovered in Inoue’s game as both men landed hard left-hand counter shots for their knockdowns. That is a shot Akhmadaliev will certainly be looking for on Sunday.
Inoue will also be looking to avoid a letdown performance as his next two fights appear to already be mapped out.
Turki Alalshikh has claimed that Inoue will face WBC mandatory champion Alan Picasso in December. And an early 2026 Japanese megafight appears in the cards after unified bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani vacated his titles in an effort to move up a division and chase a fight with Inoue.
There’s not much name recognition on the undercard, but there is another title fight. Yoshiki Takei looks to defend his WBO bantamweight title against Christian Medina in the co-main event. The 29-year-old champion is 11-0 with nine knockouts on his resume. Medina has a strong resume as well with a 25-4 record and 18 knockouts. He’s won four straight since a loss in Japan in 2023.
Let’s take a closer look at the latest odds sportsbooks have posted for this fight before getting to a prediction and expert pick on the main event.
Odds via BetRivers
Date: Sept. 14 | Start time: 4 a.m. ET (main card)
Location: IG Arena — Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Stream: Top Rank Facebook
Akhmadaliev is a good fighter, but he doesn’t really bring much to the table that should trouble Inoue in any serious way. Then again, the same could be said about Nery and Cardenas, and both of those fighters managed to drop Inoue with serious knockdowns. Inoue shouldn’t overlook anyone after those two fights and it’s unlikely he overlooks what Akhmadaliev brings to the table.
Still, Inoue is stronger, faster and more powerful than Akhmadaliev. Inoue is an expert and getting his thunderous punches home and he’s far better than Tapales, who managed to edge out Akhmadaliev. Inoue should win this one — he is a -1430 favorite for a reason — and it really comes down to how quickly he manages to end things. Pick: Naoya Inoue via TKO5
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