MURODJON AKHMADALIEV may have found a path to victory against Naoya Inoue – by exploiting the rare mistakes the Japanese superstar has shown in recent fights.
Inoue, the undisputed super-bantamweight champion, defends all four of his titles this Sunday (September 14) at the IG Arena in Nagoya, Japan, against the Uzbekistani southpaw.
Beating Inoue has proved an impossible task for all 30 of his opponents to date, yet cracks have appeared. In May 2024, Luis Nery dropped the champion, and just a year later Ramon Cardenas repeated the feat before ultimately being stopped. For Akhmadaliev, the WBA mandatory challenger, those lapses could be a blueprint.
Co-promoted by Matchroom, Akhmadaliev has been backed by their CEO Frank Smith, who believes his fighter has the tools to make history.
Boxing News asked Smith how confident he was ahead of Akhmadaliev’s challenge.
“Very confident,” he replied. “It’s a brilliant fight against a spectacular fighter in Inoue, but we believe in MJ Akhmadaliev. I’ve said it time and time again.
“He sort of got written off after the Tapales fight (which Akhmadaliev lost by split decision) and many people thought this opportunity wouldn’t come. He worked his way back through, put himself in a position, waited a long time for the WBA to order it as well and we finally see it now. At certain points we didn’t think we’d see this fight.
“I think Inoue, as good as he is, has shown vulnerabilities obviously in recent fights. Can’t take away from what he’s done in the sport obviously, but MJ we believe has all the attributes to go in there and get the win. That’s a real fight and I will be there hopefully with belts draped all over me and he’ll be my second undisputed champion after Dmitri Bivol.”
