Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso live updates, results, highlights as pound-for-pound star tops Ring V: Night of the Samurai card

By | December 27, 2025
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Pound-for-pound superstar Naoya Inoue is the main attraction on the Ring V: Night of the Samurai fight card in Riyadh.

Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) makes the sixth defence of his undisputed super bantamweight title against undefeated Mexican Alan Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KOs).

It will be ‘The Monster’s fourth outing of 2025 β€” a superb level of activity for an elite championship fighter in the modern era β€” but there is also intrigue over what might lie ahead.

Compatriot Junto Nakatani (31-0, 24 KOs), a former three-weight world champion, steps into Inoue’s division for the first time when he takes on Sebastian Hernandez in the chief support.

If Inoue and Nakatani come through unscathed, the plan is for them to meet in a superfight at Tokyo Dome next May.

There are Japanese fighters in every contest on the card, although Kenshiro Teraji will not challenge Willibaldo Garcia for the IBF super flyweight title after the champion was taken ill following Friday’s ceremonial weigh-in. Teraji was aiming to become a three-weight world champion.

The Sporting News is providing live coverage and results from the Inoue vs. Picasso card and round-by-round coverage of the main event.

Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso results

  • Naoya Inoue (c) vs. Alan Picasso for the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and Ring super bantamweight titles
  • Junto Nakatani def. Sebastian Hernandez (UD 12); Super Bantamweights
  • Eridson Garcia def. Taiga Imanaga (SD 10); Lightweights
  • Reito Tsutsumi def. Leobardo Quintana (TKO 4/8); Super Bantamweights

Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso live fight updates, highlights from 2025 boxing card

Junto Nakatani beats Sebastian Hernandez via unanimous decision!!!!

Nakatani gets it. Two cards concur with the Sporting News’ 115-113. The third has it 118-110 in favour of Big Bang. That is, quite frankly, an utterly risible disgrace of a card. Especially for a bout where the A-side needed a win to set up a money-spinning fight. No qualms with Nakatani winning, I believe he did and he’ll have learned plenty from going through hell. 118-110 does not reflect that and absolutely stinks.

Round 12: After the doctor has a look at his battered right eye, Nakatani heads back out with a super fight on the line. Rat-a-tat combination upstairs from Nakatani, with Hernandez getting close in response, as he has all night. There’s no way Nakatani can see anything out of that eye, which is almost completely closed. Hernandez jogging after Nakatani as he looks to get on his bike. How are those optics for the judges? Hernandez ships a left on the way in. lovely shot. Like all of the final rounds, that could have gone either way.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 115-113 Hernandez

Round 11: Nakatani’s corner implored him to move laterally during the break and he’s just opened up a little more space to get him some crisp work. Now a meatier combination with a left downstairs and a right hook to the cheek. Hernandez maintains a high guard to absorb the follow-up work. Nakatani has swelling around the eye that appears to be bothering him, more so now after he gets clattered on it with a left hook. Nakatani pings in an uppercut bit Hernandez then throws relentlessly to the bell.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 105-104 Hernandez

Round 10: Hernandez slows slighty, which gives Nakatani a little more time to work. Still up for grabs into the final minute. Hernandez not with quite the same snap as he burrows him man into the ropes and the sharper shots might just pinch the session fro Nakatani.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 96-94 Hernandez

Round 9: Nakatani’s trainer Rudy Hernandez is imploring him not to engage as he has over recent rounds. He’s light on his feet early in this session, landing a nice left uppercut and spinning away. Better boxing from Nakatani but he does not appear to have the pop to disuade Hernandez, which is a new sensation for a man who won five championship fights out of five via KO at bantamweight. Left hook from Nakatani but he takes a shuddering right from Hernandez to the point of the chin. The Mexican has closed this right up and Nakatani needs to find something in the final three rounds.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 86-85 Hernandez

Round 8: Nakatani holding his own but definitely fighting Hernandez’s fight at the moment. He’s in with a threshing machine. Finally he gets some room to land a long left and right. But when he backs up to the ropes, Hernandez walks him down, smothers him and digs in more shots.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 77-75 Hernandez

Round 7: Into the second half of the contest and both men appear to have decided that reverse gears are for nerds and losers. Just great back-and-forth action. Success for both men. Nakatani is losing his shape a little, which is a positive for Hernandez, who has probably shaded a relentless three minutes.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 68-65 Hernandez

Round 6: Hernandez’s corner congratulate their man on his low resting heart rate. Which is an unusual observation, but there we are. Team Hernandez’s collective blood pressure would be lower if he’d stop eating uppercuts, although their man responds with some sustained pressure. Nakatani looks to push the Mexican off him, potentially a sign he’s feeling some heat up at 122 pounds. Nice right hand inside and left hook upstairs. Heart rate up but he’s winning the round… oh, hang on, Nakatani throws big shots, left and right in centre-ring. Right to the mid-section from Nakatani but Hernandez keeps coming. That gets him on the board.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 59-55 Hernandez

Round 5: Hernandez undoes any sense of momentum by loitering at mid-range and taking shots to head and body. Now they trade left hooks to the body. A vicious right uppercut grazes up Hernandez’s face. If that had landed flush there could have been problems. Hernandez looks to get inside and absorbs a meaty left to the mid-section.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 50-45 Hernandez

Round 4: Busier start to the fourth from Hernandez but Nakatani’s slick defence is an underrated aspect of his game. This is a better tempo from the Mexican, though. More intent. Uppercut, left-hand response from Nakatani. Beautiful boxing. Nakatani is matching Hernandez on the inside and then looks imperious when he opens up the space. Hernandez makes to get inside and drive his man back. This has been his best round so far, not enough to win it but he will hope sustained pressure in a new weight class can gradually become problematic for Nakatani.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 40-36 Hernandez

Round 3: Hernandez corner concerned that their man is not closing the distance effectively and biting on too many Nakatani feints. Not a great combination of problems. Nakatani can’t miss with the left uppercut when he throws it spitefully. Hernandez looks to throw with his spare hand in a clinch, as instructed by his corner. Nakatani is more than happy to trade on the inside though. The speed and skill differential is starting to add up to a fairly sizeable gulf in class. A couple of one-twos bang on the money. Another strong Nakatani round.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 30-27 Hernandez

Round 2: Nakatani lands to the body after largely flicking out the jab for the first minute of the session. He’s so well-balanced and boxing in a lovely rhythm. Double left uppercut, both find the Hernandez jaw. Ohh, nice Nakatani left hand over the top that briefly wobbles Hernandez, who is forced to eat a follow-up assault.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 20-18 Hernandez

Round 1: Nakatani sharply into his work from the first bell. Operating nicely behind his southpaw jab, he rips an uppercut through the guard, although Hernandez is taking plenty on the gloves as a he looks to get a read on Nakatani. Another left uppercut gets through during the closing seconds from ‘Big Bang’.

SN unofficial scorecard: Nakatani 10-9 Hernandez

12:04 a.m. GMT/ 7:04 a.m. ET: Junto ‘Big Bang’ Nakatani is out of his dressing room and ready to go for the co-main event. It’s Nakatani’s first fight at super bantamweight and, with Naoya Inoue in his sights, it makes sense that he’s testing himself against a big puncher. Sebastian Hernandez, who is making his way to the ring now, has was 18 of his 20 fights via knockout. We’re going round-by-round for this one.

11:50 a.m. GMT/ 6:50 a.m. ET: There was some controversy backstage during the Imanaga-Garcia fight, with Team Picasso requesting Inoue re-wrap his hands after seemingly objecting to excessive use of tape coming down from the knuckle. Inoue’s wraps have been a topic of discussion before, with stipulations in Japan different to those in other jurisdictions. You also have to wonder what Picasso might think about his team essentially going into his opponent’s dressing room and making him angry. Do you really want to poke ‘The Monster’.

Eridson Garcia beats Taiga Imanaga via split decision

Garcia gets it, deservedly from this vantage point, by a razor thin margin. One judge saw it 96-93 for the Dominican, with another scoring it 95-94 for Imanaga. The final card, 95-94 for Garcia, meant it all came down to that brutal round-eight knockdown.

11:39 a.m. GMT/ 6:39 a.m. ET: Imanaga makes it to the final bell. It could all come down to how the judges scored those cagey first few rounds. The Japanese fighter dominated the middle rounds but Garcia turned the contest on its head in the eigth with a heavy knockdown. Imanaga dug deep to stay in there but did not do enough to win rounds from that point. The 10-8 round in Garcia will weigh heavily in the final analysis.

11:35 a.m. GMT/ 6:35 a.m. ET: Imanaga looked in disarray in the corner after his eighth-round ordeal, the doctor having a close look as his corner swabbed his bleeding nose. Round nine passes off without similar drama but it goes to Garcia. This feels tight on the cards and the Dominican has all the momentum.

11:31 a.m. GMT/ 6:31 a.m. ET: Huge right hook from Garcia in round eight and down goes Imanaga! He’s down hard. Gets back up but looks very ragged and there are more than two minutes left in the round. Garcia surely has to get this done now. Blood smeared across Imanaga’s face, he’s standing in range and soaking up hooks. Big, big, problems for the Japanese champion. Another big left hook off the right from Garcia. The referee has a good look at Imanaga, whose right eye is swelling at an alarming rate. Imanaga gets out of the round, but is he a beaten man?

11:23 a.m. GMT/ 6:23 a.m. ET: Imanaga responded well to Garcia’s success early in round four and has dictated the action for the past couple of rounds, putting his shots together nicely and not taking too much in return. Garcia is clearly comfortable on the back foot but needs to do more to prevent this one from slipping away.

11:10 a.m. GMT/ 6:10 a.m. ET: It’s been pretty exploratory stuff from the two southpaws through three. Garcia will probably be marginally the happier of the two fighters. He landed a nice uppercut to the body late in round two. In the third, Imanaga began to close the distance more effectively, but Garcia then started to catch him coming in. Round four began with a huge Garcia left, followed up by a pair of right hooks after Imanaga fired back. This one just heating up.

10:54 a.m. GMT/ 5:54 a.m. ET: Ringwalks are underway for our next contest. Eridson Garcia is ranked No. 10 at lightweight by the WBO and building towards world honours. The rangy Japanese champion at 135 pounds, Taiga Imanaga, is in the other corner for what feels like an evenly matched 10-rounder.

Reito Tsutsumi beats Leobardo Quintana via 4th round TKO!

Crisis, what crisis? Tsutsumi took Quintana taking that breather on the deck as a cue that his opponent might be flagging under his stabbing southpaw body jabs. He upped the work rate, steadied Quintana with a lead right hook and was unrelenting from that point. A left hook to the jaw shuddered Quintana and two follow-up rights pummelled him to the canvas. The Mexican rose groggily to his feet to just about beat the count but the referee had seen enough. Given the facial damage he sustained in the previous round, that’s seriously impressive from Tsutsumi, who moves to 4-0 with 3 KOs. The target is a world title shot by his 10th bout. Quintana slips to 12-2 but can definitely come again.

10:34 a.m. GMT/ 5:34 a.m. ET: Tsutsumi is definitely going through the first crisis of his young career. Quintana is relentless and the Japanese youngster is bleeding from the nose and the mouth. He landed some more nice body shots towards the end of the round and will hope those pay dividends in the second half of the fight. Early in round five, Quintana goes to clinch and goes down to the canvas. Calm down, Jake Paul.

10:28 a.m. GMT/ 5:26 a.m. ET: Lively action in the first round, with Quintana enjoying success before Tsutsumi caught him off balance with a left and sent him tottering back towards the ropes. The Mexican flies straight out for round two. He’s bang up for this. Tsutsumi is trying to slow his foe’s advances with some smart work to the body.

10 a.m. GMT/ 5 a.m. ET: Our first preliminary fight of this reduced card will be underway shortly when rising star Reito Tsutsumi takes on Leobardo Quintana over eight super bantamweight rounds. It will be Tsutsumi’s fourth outing as a professional, having turned over this year.  There are high hopes for the 23-year-old Tsutsumi, a former youth amateur standout who has been named as a Ring ambassador.

9:30 a.m. GMT/ 4:30 a.m. ET: Our world title action today has been trimmed after IBF super flyweight champion Willibaldo Garcia was taken ill following the ceremonial weigh-in for his clash with Kenshiro Teraji and declared medically unfit to fight. There was brief talk of securing a late replacement for Teraji, but the limited time to work with means those attempts have come to nought. Teraji was aiming to become a three-weight world champion, and losing a title fight at the 11th hour was a further blow to the card after Hayato Tsutsumi withdrew from his challenge to WBA super featherweight champion James ‘Jazza’ Dickens with a facial injury.

Kenshiro Teraji with the unified belt

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9 a.m. GMT/ 4 a.m. ET: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Naoya Inoue’s sixth defence of his undisputed super bantamweight title against Mexico’s Alan Picasso. Inoue vs. Picasso tops the Ring V: Night of the Samurai card in Riyadh, with fellow Japanese superstars Junto Nakatani and Kenshiro Teraji also in action.

Naoya Inoue Defend Undisputed title 01242025

Jiji Press

Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso start time

  • Start time: 4 a.m. ET | 1 a.m. PT | 9 a.m. GMT
  • Main event start time (approx.): 7:55 a.m. ET | 4:55 a.m. PT | 12:55 p.m. GMT
  • Location: Mohammed Abdo Arena β€” Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The Inoue vs. Picasso fight is at Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 27. The event starts at around midday local time, a start time to align with prime time viewing in Japan, where Inoue, Nakatani and Teraji all have huge followings.

Japan Standard time is six hours ahead of Riyadh. The timings of GMT, ET and PT are noted above.

How to watch Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso

  • Stream: DAZN
  • PPV Price: $59.99 | Β£24.99 | $49.99 (AU)

Naoya Inoue vs. Alan Picasso will be available on DAZN worldwide.

The PPV price is $69.99 in the US and Canada and Β£19.99 in the UK. Alternatively, fans can sign up to the new DAZN Ultimate subscription tier, which costs Β£22.99 per month for the first 12 months for fans in the UK and $44.99 monthly in the US and includes a minimum of 12 pay-per-view events every year at no extra cost.

The standalone PPV for Ring V: Night of the Samurai comes with a free seven-day DAZN trial.

A DAZN monthly subscription is $19.99 on a 12-month contract or $29.99 month-to-month. The annual subscription is $224.99. In the UK, this subscription costs Β£9.99 on a 12-month contract or Β£19.99 month-to-month.

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