Instead of being among the 55,000 faithful fans at Tokyo Dome, Garcia will have his alarm clock set to watch the fight on DAZN from his hotel room when ring walks begin in the wee hours of the morning.

Garcia has vested interest in what should be a vicious fight between the No. 2 pound-for-pound-ranked Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) and No. 7-rated Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs).

After all, Garcia is the career-long coach and manager of potential future Inoue-Nakatani opponent Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

“I pick Inoue to win a decision in a great fight, but it’s not going to be easy,” Garcia told The Ring. “I believe this will be the hardest and toughest fight of Inoue's career. If he dominates and takes care of business comfortably, then he's the real man.

“But it's going to be a tough fight for Inoue. He's been dropped twice, and Nakatani's style is perfect to make it a close fight. Nakatani had a tough fight against Sebastian Hernandez in December, but it was the kind of fight that only makes you learn and get better.

“Nakatani is a solid fighter and loves to bring the action. He hits tremendously hard, and he needs to make it a rough fight to win. He has to take hard shots from Inoue and make him fight. He has to put the pressure on. He can't throw one punch at a time because Inoue will counter, something that he's good at. That's the way to beat Inoue.

“Nakatani has a chin, is tall, lanky, and he needs to take this fight into the late rounds. I’ve known Nakatani for many years, and I go back with his trainer Rudy Hernandez for 40 years, and I'm actually rooting for them. Nakatani should have a great performance, but I see Inoue pulling it off.”

Garcia and Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs) – The Ring’s No. 4-ranked fighter pound for pound – have both been adamant that encounters against Inoue, the undisputed champion, and Nakatani should materialize in the near future.

Rodriguez will be making his 118-pound debut against WBA titleholder Antonio Vargas on June 13 in Glendale, Arizona.

Rodriguez also currently carries The Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO 115-pound titles and is interested in stepping back down to the division with the intent to become an undisputed champion if he gets the chance to face the winner of the June 6 fight between IBF titleholder Willibaldo Garcia and Andrew Moloney.

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.