Inoue flat out after gruelling four fights

Japan's unbeaten Naoya Inoue said he was exhausted after defeating Mexico's David Picasso by unanimous decision in Riyadh on Dec 27 for his fourth win of 2025.

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The boxer nicknamed “Monster” successfully defended his undisputed world super-bantamweight titles for the sixth time in his first fight in Saudi Arabia.

But it was not enough to knock out the gritty Picasso, as Inoue settled for a unanimous decision win for the second fight in a row.

The 32-year-old has had a jam-packed schedule in 2025 and he blamed fatigue for a performance that he described as “not good”.

“To be honest, I’m tired,” he said, after taking his record to 32 wins, 27 by knockout.

“It wasn’t so much having four fights in a year as having to work hard to prepare for those four fights.

“You can put up with it at the time because you're only thinking about the fight, but now that it’s over, I can see that I really gave all I had.”