End of the story: Naoya Inoue-Junto Nakatani super-bout ready to draw definitive line

Heading into Saturday's The Ring V: Night of the Samurai card, it was widely expected that Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani would take care of their respective business.

The former was tipped to see off Alan Picasso in Riyadh, while the latter was expected to easily dispatch Sebastian Hernandez, setting up a Tokyo Dome mega-fight next May.

Things proved a little dicier than anticipated in the end. Nakatani took a unanimous decision in the co-main feature, but only after he took one hell of a second-half battering.

There was a definite argument for Hernandez to have taken the win, even with a horrendous 118-110 scorecard against him. But in the end, 'Big Bang' held up his end of the deal.

For Inoue at least, an exemplary performance where he strutted his stuff to show why he is perhaps boxing's pound-for-pound king, securing a rout agains a gritty and game foe.

Some say Nakatani needs another bout under his belt at super-bantamweight, needs another foe so the three-weight world champion can get more accustomed to 122 pounds.

Forget that notion. There is no better fight in the world for either guy to make, so let them get inside the ring togehter for the battle to see who is truly the best between the two. 

Far too often in boxing, the sport's promoters - and sometimes even fighters - want to "marinate" the contest, in order to help further build the fight up more to a bigger crowd.

Look at all the posturing between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. It took over six years for them to get into the ring for what should have been an amazing fight.

Instead, with two of the best of their generation before them, fans got ripped off and saw a pair of guys past their prime, unable to provide them the classic they were looking for. 

The people won't have to worry here. Nakatani has made it clear that he wants Inoue, telling DAZN's Ade Oladipo: "I changed my weight class to aim for the world champion."

And in his post-fight interview after seeing off Picasso, the incumbent undisputed champion promised something "very good" for his fans when asked about facing his rival in May.

Inoue-Nakatani is at its apex. Combined, they are 63-0 with 51 knockouts between them - 31 and 27 for the former, and 32 and 24 for the latter, remarkable figures by any margin.

Both are all-action fighters, among the pound-for-pound best in the sport. No-one will test them except each other. Anything else is pointless, nonsensical, and a waste of time.

There's no posturing here. No more tune-ups. The time is now for the pair to prove once and for all who is the emperor of Japan - and, perhaps too, the king of the boxing world.

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