Junto Nakatani asked if Naoya Inoue is the best fighter in the world ahead of undisputed clash

Junto Nakatani has assessed the lofty status of Naoya Inoue, who many consider to be a top two pound-for-pound star.

The pair will square off at the Tokyo Dome on May 2, with Inoue making the seventh defence of his four major super-bantamweight titles.

As a two-division undisputed champion, the 33-year-old sits alongside Oleksandr Usyk as the only two active fighters to have achieved such success.

Terence Crawford, of course, became a three-weight undisputed king by defeating Canelo Alvarez last September, but his subsequent retirement has meant that Usyk and Inoue now sit at the very top of the tree.

Hoping to prove his own greatness, meanwhile, is Nakatani, who made his super-bantamweight debut as a three-division world champion last December.

The 28-year-old secured a rather debatable unanimous decision victory against Sebastian Hernandez, before Inoue topped the bill with a one-sided unanimous verdict over David Picasso.

Even away from their last two performances, though, Nakatani recognises that Inoue sits above him in most people’s pound-for-pound rankings.

As a result, the Japanese southpaw has placed ‘The Monster’ at the very top of his list, while not even mentioning Usyk during his interview with DAZN.

Instead, Nakatani named Crawford – who, at this point, was still active – Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson and himself as the remaining entries on his top five pound-for-pound list.

Some might say that Dmitry Bivol, like Usyk, is unfortunate to have not been given a mention, though Nakatani would certainly merit his place on the list if he manages to dethrone Inoue next week.