Coach Joel Diaz will get a second consecutive crack at Naoya Inoue when his charge Murodjon Akhmadaliev challenges the undisputed junior featherweight champion Sept. 14 at the IG Arena in Nagoya, Japan.

Diaz was working the corner of Ramon Cardenas in May when the little-known Mexican-American shockingly dropped The Ring's No. 2-rated pound-for-pound fighter in the second round. Cardenas put up a valiant effort until the Japanese juggernaut recuperated and retaliated to score an eighth-round stoppage win.

The four-division champion Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) has labeled Akhmadaliev (14-1, 11 KOs) the toughest fight of his career, and Diaz concurs.

“We believe in our abilities,” Diaz told The Ring. “We've been training hard. Inoue is still a great fighter, but the reason why MJ has been asking for the fight is that he believes he'll beat Inoue. MJ has a lot of experience. He's seen every style.

“Cardenas gave Inoue a good five rounds and landed a good shot. But the reality is that Cardenas does not have the experience that MJ has, never fought at his level. MJ is stronger, faster and has more volume than Cardenas. MJ is going to be bigger than Inoue too, because he's a solid 122-pounder with power and ability.”

Inoue has been knocked down twice in his last four fights, the other occurence coming in the first round against Luis Nery in May 2024. Nery and Cardenas both crushed the aggressive Inoue with a counter left. Diaz is counting on Akhmadaliev to crack Inoue as well.

“We know Inoue can get dropped. He will get hurt if he gets caught by MJ with a good shot just like we saw with Cardenas,” Diaz continued.

“The only difference is that MJ is an executioner, and he won't let you recover. I'm realistic. I know it's going to be hard to beat Inoue in Japan. That's why we have to knock him out. I don't know if we can [get] the decision.

“Inoue throws a high volume of punches. We know that he has to catch him with a good shot, hurt him, execute, and finish him. MJ knows how to finish fights and has heavy shots. Inoue is vulnerable to getting knocked out. It's just a matter of having the right timing and not letting him recover by attacking and overwhelming.

“MJ is a totally different fighter than what Inoue has seen before. He has angles, moves his feet, makes you miss, and counters you with heavy hands. He's smart, and his confidence is very high. He's going to frustrate Inoue when he's not there in front of him.”