The Tokyo Dome promotion headlined by undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue is highly likely to generate the highest revenue of any combat sports event in Japanese history, according to a Sankei Sports report citing multiple sources. The May 2 card drew 55,000 spectators and was streamed worldwide. It is expected to exceed the previous record of more than 5 billion yen.

That benchmark was set by the kickboxing event THE MATCH 2022, held at the same venue on June 19, 2022, headlined by Tenshin Nasukawa against Takeru. According to Sankei Sports, multiple insiders have indicated the Inoue card cleared that figure with room to spare.

Production Costs and the Scale of the Event

Nikkan Sports estimated the total cost of the promotion at approximately 4 billion yen, citing multiple sources, and described it as one of the largest domestic boxing productions ever staged in Japan. Sankei Sports reported that combined receipts across all revenue streams could push the event’s overall scale toward 10 billion yen.

The card was distributed in Japan exclusively on a pay-per-view basis through NTT Docomo’s Lemino service, with no domestic terrestrial broadcast. Lemino’s pay-per-view fee was set at 6,050 yen for advance purchase and 7,150 yen on the day of the event. Ohashi Gym president Hideyuki Ohashi told Sankei Sports that pay-per-view sales were “strong.”

By comparison, THE MATCH 2022 drew 56,399 spectators and recorded approximately 530,000 pay-per-view buys at 5,500 yen on ABEMA, the largest combat sports PPV figure in Japanese history at the time.

Ticket Pricing

Top-priced tickets for the May 2 card were listed at 330,000 yen for ringside SRS seats, with subsequent tiers at 220,000, 165,000, and 110,000 yen, and second-floor seats at 11,000 yen, according to Nikkan Sports. The full house sold out on April 1, the day tickets went on sale. The previous Japanese combat sports record for top ticket price was set at THE MATCH 2022, which listed its highest tier at 3 million yen.

The May 2 card was also shown live in 116 movie theaters across Japan at 8,200 yen per ticket. International rights were distributed through DAZN.

Sponsorship

SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial groups, signed a sponsorship agreement with Inoue and MMA fighter Tatsuro Taira on April 30, according to a company press release. The SBI logo appeared on the ring mat, fight gloves, and Inoue’s gear during the broadcast. SANKYO announced separate sponsorship of Kazuto Ioka in the WBC bantamweight title fight on the co-main, according to a PR Times release dated April 27.

Fighter Purses

Ohashi confirmed to Sankei Sports that the purses for Inoue, Junto Nakatani, and Inoue’s younger brother Takuma Inoue were the highest of their respective careers. Estimates cited in the report, dependent on pay-per-view incentives, place Naoya Inoue’s earnings in the multiple-billions of yen, Nakatani’s between 500 million and 1 billion yen, and Takuma Inoue’s at approximately 500 million yen. Ioka, who challenged Takuma in the co-feature, was also reported to have earned a career-high purse in the hundreds of millions of yen.

Earlier figures provide context for the scale. Inoue’s May 2024 fight against Luis Nery at Tokyo Dome was reported by his team to have generated a purse of approximately 1 billion yen, the first time a Japanese boxer had reached that figure for a single bout.

Inoue retained his WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and Ring Magazine super bantamweight titles by unanimous decision over Nakatani on scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 116-112. He moved to 33-0 with 27 knockouts. Nakatani fell to 32-1 with 24 knockouts.