"The Monster" is back.
Naoya Inoue is set to compete for the third time in 2025 when he puts his undisputed super bantamweight championship on the line against Murodjon Akhmadaliev on Sept. 14 -- the day after Canelo Alvarez looks to defend his super middleweight title against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas -- at the newly built Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan.
The announcement was made Thursday in a Japan at a news conference held by Ohashi Promotions.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), ESPN's No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, is coming off of a thrilling eight-round stoppage of Ramon Cardenas in May. He also knocked out Kim Ye-Joon in January. Akhmadaliev (14-1, 11 KOs), a former unified super bantamweight titleholder, knocked out Luis Castillo in May and has won three consecutive fights, all by knockout, since dropping a split decision to Marlon Tapales in 2023.
Inoue has a fourth fight slated to take place before the end of the year. If Inoue successfully defends against Akhmadaliev, and David Picasso defeats Kyonosuke Kameda on July 19, the two are expected to square off on Dec. 27 in Saudi Arabia.
The co-main event finds Yoshiki Takei (11-0, 9 KOs) defending his WBO 118-pound title against challenger Christian Medina (25-4, 18 KOs.