Naoya Inoue and Alan Picasso faced off for the first time this week at Thursday’s Final Press Conference ahead of Saturday’s ‘The Ring 5: Night of the Samurai’ extravaganza in Riyadh.
The event is brought to fight fans on behalf of Riyadh Season by SELA, Matchroom Boxing and The Ring Magazine – broadcast live on DAZN.
Eddie Hearn arrived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host today’s presser at the Global Theatre at Riyadh’s spectacular Boulevard World.
‘The Ring V: Night of the Samurai’ will be staged this Saturday at Mohammed Abdu Arena by Emirates NBD in Boulevard City.
The fight card also features former Bantamweight World Champion Junto Nakatani, moving up to Super Bantamweight to make his debut in the division, in a clash with Sebastian Hernandez of Mexico, Kenshiro Teraji defending his status as world champion at Super Flyweight against Mexico’s Wilibaldo Garcia, in addition to Taiga Imanaga facing Dominica’s Eridson Garcia, and Reito Tsutsumi taking on Mexico’s Leobardo Quintana.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s ceremonial weigh-in – which will now take place at 3pm KSA Time – here’s what the fighters had to say at today’s Press Conference:
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES:
Naoya Inoue
“This bout is going to be really important for my future – and how I fight it will be crucial to becoming pound-for-pound No. 1. So, I will give 100 per cent. I promise you that there is no chance that my belts are going back with him [Alan Picasso] to Mexico. This is a critical fight in the Super Bantamweight division, which you will see on Saturday. I am ready. All the Japanese fighters here have a high skillset and their mentality is very strong. That is proven and we will all fight good fights – and we plan to go home [to Japan] with good victories.”
Alan Picasso
“First, I would like to say thank you to [His Excellency] Turki Alalshikh, The Ring Magazine and the promoters. All the people who have made this possible for me, thank you. It is amazing to be here. Of course, I want to share my respect to Japan and to all of the Japanese fighters. However, on Saturday, it will not be the ’Night of the Samurai’ – it is going to be an Azteca night. We represent Mexico and every single fighter who is here fighting for Mexico on this card, we are doing it for our people. We do it because of the blood running inside our bodies. I’ve been working and working so hard for this moment. I have run thousands of kilometres. I am so proud of the job I have done – and bringing those belts to Mexico would make my country so proud, so I will not let them down.”
Junto Nakatani
“First of all, I want to thank everyone for inviting me to such a big stage. I have been preparing 100 per cent, so you will see the best of me on December 27.”
Sebastian Hernandez
“Junto Nakatani is a really good fighter and I feel really excited for this fight. I have prepared my best, so I will give my absolute best in this fight too. Thank you for everything.”
Willibaldo Garcia
“People are wrong if they think I am going to lose. I am ready to win. I’m ready for war – I am going to win. I am going to finish him and I will deliver a KO.”
Kenshiro Teraji
“I really need to fight well and win what is such a huge match for me. I have to take the next big step [in my career], so I will make sure to win this World Title fight. I’ve always wanted to face [Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez] so I would like to perform well enough to get the chance to do so one day.”
Leobardo Quintana
“I’m ready – and I’ve been ready for the past week. I feel very strong and I am ready for victory.”
Reito Tsutsumi
“I know this is a great chance for me to impress on the big stage this time. That’s why I want to enjoy it on Saturday and have some fun as much as I can.”
Eridson Garcia
“Thank you to Matchroom and Turki Alalshikh for bringing me here. Of course, I am ready to upset everyone else and win the fight on Saturday.”
Taiga Imanaga
“I’m delighted to be here in Riyadh and I want to make sure that my presence is confirmed on such a big stage by trying my best to win, so keep on supporting me.”
Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman
“Welcome everybody here to Riyadh as we wrap up what has been an incredible year for Riyadh Season and The Ring Magazine. The growth of boxing here in Saudi Arabia and the vision of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has been inspiring and breathtaking. We have had just about everything in the Kingdom – but we have never had the invasion of the Japanese. Until now. That new force of world boxing, which we see up here today. Of course, this is the ‘Night of the Samurai’. But I am hearing in the room today a strong atmosphere for Mr Picasso and for many of the opposition teams here today and it is very much, ‘Viva Mexico Cabrones!’ We know what the Mexican fighters are coming here to do: they come to fight. And on Saturday, there will be a war going on between Mexico and Japan, in what I think is one of the best cards we have seen here in Saudi Arabia. When you look over the recent times, and of course being shown on the Global Home of Boxing, DAZN, we have seen it all. Previously, we have had the Undisputed Heavyweight World Championship twice and earlier this year, the Light Heavyweight Undisputed Championship with Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, not to mention Canelo Alvarez with the Undisputed Super Middleweight Titles. Plus, we have had for The Ring the two epic Eubank-Benn cards in front of over 70,000 fans. We’ve even closed down Times Square [in New York City]. We have seen it all. Despite having crowned so many Undisputed champions, there is only one reigning male Undisputed Champion and that is the great, Naoya Inoue, who is here as the only reigning male Undisputed champion and ready to defend his belts this weekend. This card, of course, is one of the strongest we have seen. There are so many great fighters. You will not want to blink. It’s incredibly exciting and it is a huge night for boxing.”
Rick Reeno, The Ring Magazine CEO
“I want to thank everyone for attending. Obviously, it is Christmas Day, so I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I told everyone that the day would come eventually, when Eddie Hearn would be my host at a Ring press conference! Eddie always likes to save a couple of quid, so he was all on board to host today. Like Eddie said, this is an unbelievable card. We have some of the very best talent on display, both present and for the future. Everyone is talking already about a potential Japanese mega fight between [Naoya] Inoue and [Junto] Nakatani. But we have two dangerous operators here with [Alan] Picasso and Sebastian Hernandez. These guys have got a legion of fans in attendance, and they are coming to spoil the party. I think we are going to see a lot of fireworks to close out the year. The year is not done yet and we may even get an upset. Anything can happen. We will see the future of Japanese boxing too in the form of Reito and Taiga [Imanaga], showing off their skills. Both of them are taking on a step up in class. They’re not like in some of the other regions where opponents are carefully picked, these guys love to be fast-tracked in Japan. Over there it is sink or swim. Either a guy has got it or he doesn’t have it. The managers and the handlers there are not concerned with putting their guys in the deep end against tough opponents. They like to know sooner rather than later before they invest more money into a fighter – and I respect that because often we see too much careful matchmaking going on, so I think that is what has helped ascend Japanese boxing. They want to make good fights and they’re not scared to make good fights. That’s why over the past few years you have seen so many fight of the year contenders coming out of Japan. You also have Kenshiro [Teraji] who is looking to bounce back and open up an exciting new chapter in his career too. He’s immediately moving up in weight to face a serious operator and a World Champion in the form of Willibaldo Garcia, who has made it clear he is coming for war. I’m really looking forward to it – we are going to see plenty of great action at this event. In fact, I’m looking forward to it so much that I am spending it with my mate, Eddie Hearn.”
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