Monster signing: Japanese boxing star Naoya Inoue links up with Riyadh Season

Undisputed super-bantamweight champion open to fighting in Saudi Arabia after clinching deal with kingdom

Japanese boxing star Naoya Inoue, left, is the latest big name to join the Riyadh Season Saudi boxing project. AP

Japanese boxing superstar Naoya Inoue has become the latest marquee fighter to sign with Riyadh Season.

Inoue, 31, announced the deal – reported to be worth around $20 million – on his social media accounts on Tuesday morning. It will see him become an ambassador for Saudi Arabia, with the Riyadh Season logo appearing on his trunks and the branding of his fights, while also opening the door for Inoue to one day box in the kingdom.

Inoue, nicknamed "the Monster", is unbeaten in 28 fights with 25 knockouts and, having cleaned out four weight divisions, is already considered Japan’s greatest ever fighter.

“We have signed a sponsorship contract with Riyadh Season, a project directly managed by the Saudi Arabian government,” said Inoue, who defends his four super-bantamweight titles against Australia’s Sam Goodman in Tokyo on Christmas Eve.

“I am very happy to have been able to break down the class barrier and sign such a big contract. I believe that signing this contract now, as I am approaching the latter half of my career, is an important first step that will accelerate the rest of my boxing career.

“From now on, every match will be a very important one, so please continue to support us.”

On the subject of boxing in Riyadh, Inoue added: “I think it's all about timing. This year's fight [against Goodman] has been decided. I don't know what will happen next year. If I can fight in Saudi Arabia, I'll just live up to those expectations. I think I'll just perform the way I do in Japan.”

Significantly, the deal means that boxing's big three pound-for-pound greats – the unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, unified super-welterweight king Terence Crawford, and now Inoue – are all signed with Riyadh Season.

Inoue's fights are major events in Japan. Earlier this year, he knocked out rival Luis Nery in front of almost 60,000 people in the first boxing event staged at the Tokyo Dome since Mike Tyson's legendary defeat to James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.

And, while this relationship opens the door for Inoue to box in Saudi Arabia, it also raises the prospect of another major overseas Riyadh Season card like the ones already staged in Los Angeles and London.

Turki Alalshikh, the man behind the Saudi boxing project, said "big surprises coming soon" as he posted a picture of himself alongside Inoue. Back in July, he said that he was keen to take the Riyadh Season brand on tour again and named Japan as a key market.

Alalshikh has shown a willingness to broker the biggest fights possible and an all-Japanese showdown between Inoue and the rising star Junto Nakatani could be the perfect main event for a Riyadh Season card in Tokyo.

The last time the kingdom hosted a show on foreign soil, Daniel Dubois upset Anthony Joshua in London on September 21 to cement his status as the IBF heavyweight champion.

Joshua took a heavy beating at Riyadh Season: Wembley Edition and Frank Smith of Matchroom Sports says it is "unlikely" the 34-year-old former two-time champion will exercise his rematch clause.

That's a view shared by Dubois' promoter Frank Warren, who said: “I don’t see [the Joshua rematch] happening next. We’re looking at a couple of things at the moment and we’ll make a decision.

“I’m hearing that [Joshua] is injured. Whatever it is, if things are going to happen, they happen. It’s taken a while to feel like it won’t happen, and unless I get a phone call saying it’s on, then we’ve got to make some decisions.

“We’re in the Daniel Dubois business. He’s the champion. He’s the guy who matters to me. [February 22] is when I want to get him out, and he wants to be out.”

That February 22 date will be another major Riyadh Season show in the Saudi capital and Dubois has been granted permission to make a voluntary defence, meaning he can face anyone from the top 15 in the IBF's rankings. That includes names like Zhilei Zhang and Frank Sanchez as well as his fellow Britons Derek Chisora and Fabio Wardley. Joseph Parker has called Dubois out but doesn't currently have a ranking with the sanctioning body.

Should he get through that then Dubois will next need to defend against the winner of an IBF-mandated eliminator between Agit Kabayel and Martin Bakole.

The next card to be hosted in Saudi Arabia is November 16's "Latino Night" featuring the best of Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy stable and headlined by the cruiserweight unification between Gilberto Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith.

After that, 2024 closes out with the big heavyweight title rematch between Usyk and Tyson Fury on December 21.