To end 2025, two-division undisputed world champion Naoya Inoue dominated David Picasso to retain his Ring and junior featherweight belts, while three-division beltholder Junto Nakatani remained undefeated after a hard 12-round battle in his 122-pound debut vs. Sebastian Hernandez at “The Ring V: Night of the Samurai."

Both victors expressed a desire to fight each other in what would be a highly anticipated mega event at Tokyo Dome later this year.

It is time for Japanese boxing to gear up for its popularity inside and outside the country. It's made better because several other talents, besides those two stars, are ready to seize their opportunity.

The country boasts five world champions. including Naoya and his younger brother Takuma Inoue, who outpointed fast-rising contender Tenshin Nasukawa to win the WBC bantamweight strap in November.

Seiya Tsutsumi is a never-give-up slugger who defended his WBA bantamweight belt on Dec. 27, while Ring and WBO junior bantamweight champion Mizuki Hiruta, a fabulous southpaw, scooped Female of the Year acclaim at January's Ring Awards.

A determined puncher holds the IBF flyweight belt in Masamichi Yabuki, while fast-rising southpaw Ryusei Matsumoto will look to make it six. He holds the WBA secondary strap at strawweight, with Ring and unified champion Oscar Collazo booked and busy elsewhere as he seeks to claim undisputed status sometime this year.

Junior welterweight contender Andy Hiraoka faced WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell on the Ryan Garcia-Mario Barrios undercard in Las Vegas this past weekend. He lost for the first time in 25 fights, failing to become Japan's first world champion at 140 pounds since Akinobu Hiranaka in 1992, but he didn't hurt his stock.

Hard-hitting lightweight contender Shu Utsuki, rated top-10 by three of the four major sanctioning bodies, hopes to become a Japanese world champion at 135 pounds. That hasn't happened for 17 years.

Lower weight classes find, as always, high-quality prospects such as lefty sniper Riku Masuda at bantamweight, former amateur world champion Tomoya Tsuboi at junior bantam and heavy-handed junior flyweight Daiya Kira.

There are almost too many to mention all.

Meanwhile a phenomenal 17-year-old, Yuga Fujiki, who has been featured already in The Ring Magazine, won the welterweight crown in the national amateur championship. He beat all the senior fighters in November to finish his career undefeated (49-0, 33 KOs) and will be one of the most trending boxers before his pro debut.

Good talents come one after the other.

Yuta Sakai, the Inoue brothers' stablemate, is one of them.

The 5-foot-8 southpaw bantamweight is a pure prospect with an outstanding amateur background. He won six national junior titles and a gold medal at the 2022 Youth World Championship following the feat of the Tsutsumi brothers — Hayato (flyweight, 2016) and Reito (lightweight, 2021) — who are now Ring ambassadors.

But he stays humble despite a brilliant resume.

“I am a little happier with my performance than last fight. I was able to do how I wanted to this time and felt my power,” said the 20-year-old post-fight after finishing Thailander Boonrueang Phayom in 138 seconds. “Physical strength training, even over just six weeks, works well. I could not do more than one pull-up before, but now can do it 30 times.”

Since his professional debut in June 2024, the Yokohama resident has reeled off six victories, all by stoppage, and will return in another eight-round bout on March 24 against Phillipines' Wesley Caga (7-2, 3 KOs).

Sakai’s boxing life has been guided by his father, Nobukatsu, who was an amateur baseball player. Their story began when the father recommended “Hajime no Ippo,” a classic boxing cartoon story of a brave boxer who used to be a kindhearted and timid boy, just like himself when still in elementary school in his Amagasaki hometown.

The pairing built their skills and style from scratch through self-study to finish as runner-up in the Junior Champions League in 2019 at under-15 level.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a suspension of the next year's tournament, Sakai kept training hard to win the World Youth Championships in 2022, his second year in high school.

The following summer, Hideyuki Ohashi, Ohashi Gym founder and manager of the Inoue brothers, invited the promising youngster to his gym in Yokohama, Kanagawa.

That brought an opportunity to train along with The Ring's No. 2 pound-for-pound star, an experience he was so inspired by that he decided to bypass the Paris Olympics, instead focusing on turning professional.

The father-son bond was strong, letting Ohashi accept both into his stable just like was the case with Inoue's family many years ago. Sakai moved to Yokohama, making the Ohashi Gym his new home.

Amidst intense attention, the lanky southpaw has delivered effortlessly, with busy jabs and positioning creating the right angles and timing to tag opponents.

He won the vacant Japanese youth bantamweight title in June, overwhelming Ryoji Miyashita, a runner-up in the 2024 All Japan Rookies Tournament, with a second-round stoppage.

"Did you see it? He is amazing, isn't he?" said an extremely delighted Ohashi.

Sakai’s speed and skills were just too much for his fellow southpaw. When the referee saw Sakai’s left straights and uppercuts caught him one after another, he ended it.

“It’s ideal for me to hit without getting hit to make it my game to finish it when the right time. I think I was able to do that today,” said the winner in the dressing room. With that win, he was rated, for the first time, No. 10 by Japan Boxing Commission at bantamweight and intended moving forward rather than defend the Youth title.

After needing five rounds to stop China's tough Chunhua Yang (6-2, 3 KOs) in August, he was assigned as a sparring partner to help Takuma Inoue prepare for his world title win over Nasukawa on November 24.

“Total 31 rounds with Takuma-san. It was a great learning experience for me to see what professional world class boxing is," Sakai told reporters in Korakuen Hall after flooring Boonrueang three times en route to a first-round finish the following month. "It was hard to deal with his speed, volume and precision of combinations. I understood that every move he made had his intention. I watched the fight on TV as my fight day was close, but saw that Takuma confused Tenshin well just like he did to me in the gym.

“I am pretty much an all-round boxer but still have much more to show," he said.

He continues rising up the regional rankings while racking up victories under-the-radar. Not for much longer.

People call him “Monster Ⅱ,” praising his capability, though his fighting style is his own and not similar to Naoya. Even with those comparisons, Sakai's father Nobukatsu remains humble, too.

“We never want to go express lane to the world. Our boss Ohashi agrees to build him up step by step. We appreciate his generosity, patience, and so, we are responsible to be ready whenever he says 'it’s time,' and against whoever he puts in front of him. We always keep that in mind."

The father-son tandem, away from home dream-chasing, walked together to a train station from Korakuen Hall after another victory. The young man was talking, smiling and looking up towards the sky. It will not be long before he is shining among bigger stages and better competition.