The same question pops up following every Naoya Inoue victory: When will he fight in the U.S.?
If plans come to fruition, Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) will headline stateside next year for the first time since June 2021. After Inoue's seventh-round TKO over TJ Doheny on Tuesday in Tokyo, Top Rank founder and CEO Bob Arum said "The Monster" would return to Las Vegas "for a big celebration" in 2025.
That fight in Sin City would follow a December fight in Tokyo, where Inoue will make the third defense of his undisputed junior featherweight championship, likely against Australia's Sam Goodman, whose mandatory title shot with the IBF is due.
Goodman stepped into the ring following Inoue's May victory over Luis Nery in Tokyo to set up what seemed like his next fight. Instead, Inoue elected to make an optional defense against Doheny, who entered the ring a 20-1 underdog per ESPN BET.
And if it is indeed Goodman who draws the assignment in December, that would leave Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev as next up in the mandatory title rotation system used for unified champions.
Akhmadaliev, the former unified champion, is one option for Inoue's U.S. return. That assumes, of course, that Inoue remains at 122 pounds, where he's competed five times.
And it's likely the 31-year-old (currently in his fourth title reign in a different division) will continue to campaign at junior featherweight as he remains on a collision course with countryman Junto Nakatani, a 118-pound champion on the cusp of universal pound-for-pound recognition (Inoue is No. 3 in ESPN's P4P rankings).
An Inoue-Nakatani showdown could go down as the biggest all-Japanese fight in the nation, so it's unlikely that one would take place in Las Vegas. It appears more likely to take place later in 2025.
If he does elect to challenge for a featherweight title in his U.S. return, the leading option could be Angelo Leo, who upset Luis Alberto Lopez last month in the leading contender for KO of the Year. Leo is the lone American featherweight titleholder.
Whomever Inoue fights, the matchup will be a celebration for American fans who will have the rare opportunity to watch him fight in person, or at the very least, watch him on prime-time television rather than the early-morning hours.
The future Hall of Famer is a special talent who is appointment viewing for boxing fans anytime he steps into the ring.