Inoue wants three fights in 2024

The newly crowned undisputed super-bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23KOs) held a press conference in front of 60 journalists at Ohashi Gym the day after his victory over Marlon Tapales of Philippines.

Inoue reassured everyone that he had managed to come out of the fight without injury and then talked about his plans for next year.

In May, he would take on former world champion and current WBC mandatory challenger Luis Nery (35-1, 27KOs) at the Tokyo Dome, which has only hosted two boxing events to date, both of which have featured Mike Tyson as the main event.

The 55,000-capacity venue is needed because Inoue’s recent fights at the 15,000-seat Ariake Arena were sold out, while the match against Tapales, for example, registered 100,000 ticket requests.

In September, he would face former unified champion and current WBA mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9KOs) of Uzbekistan in Saudi Arabia.

The third fight would be in December, the opponent is uncertain.

Inoue is interested in a fight against John Riel Casimero, but it’s worth noting that Sam Goodman is the IBF and WBO rankings leader, so there’s a good chance he’ll be next.

Inoue also said he would like to fight three times both in 2024 and 2025.