By Jake Donovan

It will have been exactly 52 weeks since the last time Naoya Inoue and Akira Yaegashi appeared on the same card. The night ended with Inoue knocking out long-reigning super flyweight champ Omar Narvaez to wrap up a 2014 campaign that landed krikya360.com Fighter of the Year honors, while Yaegashi hit a wall in pursuit of becoming a three-division champion. 

This Tuesday evening will mark Inoue's first fight since that show, while Yaegashi is on the comeback trail and once again within reach of a third world title. Both fighters made weight for their separate bouts on a pre-New Year's Eve boxing event in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue makes the first defense of his super flyweight title as he faces Philippines' Warlito Parrenas in the main event of a show to air on Fuji TV in Japan. Inoue (8-0. 7KOs) tipped the scales at 114.9 lbs., just below the 115 lb. divisional limit. Parrenas came in at 114 lbs. for his second consecutive title fight. 

The bout marks the long awaited return of the best super flyweight in the world and the reigning Fighter of the Year, who has been out due to injury. Inoue's destructive blitzing of Narvaez capped a banner year in which he also took out the leading junior flyweight in the world in Adrian Hernandez. The win netted him a major title in just 6th pro fight, quicker than any other Japan-born fighter in boxing history. 

Parrenas (24-6-1, 21KOs) had never before fought for a major a title prior to 2015. Now, he enters his second straight tite fight. The 32-year old from Manila was tabbed to contend for an interim version of the title, with the winner to face Inoue upon his ring return. It proved for naught, as Parrenas was held to a controversial 12-round draw with David Carmona this past July. 

An agreement was reached for the Filipino contender to gert first dibs at the title, with Carmona now slated to face the winner. 

In the co-feature, Yaegashi gets a second crack at a third title as he faces streaking junior flyweight titlist Javier Mendoza. Both fighters tipped the scales at 107.4 lbs., well within the 108 lb. divisional limit. 

Mendoza (24-2-1, 19KOs) makes the second defense of a junior flyweight title he claimed well over a year ago. The 24-year old from Tijuana scored a minor upset with a 12-round win over Ramon Garcia last September, advancing from best kept secret to a fighter to watch in the 108 lb. division.

A non-title knockout win over Mauricio Fuentes kicked off what should have been a promising 2015 campaign, but his career progress has been stalled since a 12-round decision win over Milan Melindo this past May. Still, it was good enough to run his current win streak to 13 straight dating back to July '11. 

Yaegashi (22-5, 12KOs) was thought to be done after back-to-back knockout losses to end a forgettable 2014. The all-action slugger from Yokohoma entered the year as the reigning World flyweight king - having previously served as a strawweight titlist - before running into Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez last September.

Gonzalez has since gained recognition as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, while the 32-year old Yaegashi is fighting for career relevance. In retrospect, an effort to claim a third division title came too soon, dropping in weight for an eventual knockout loss to Pedro Guevara in an otherwise competitive fight last December, less than an hour before Inoue's historic win over Narvaez. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox