PHOENIX – What appeared as Naoya Inoue’s imminent move to featherweight is increasingly looking like it’ll be paused well into 2025.

Beyond undisputed junior-featherweight champion Inoue 28-0 (25 KOs) being bound for a Christmas Eve title defense at 122 pounds, the powers directing his career increasingly favor staging a likely 122-pound showdown with unbeaten bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani in Japan, not the U.S.

And with Inoue’s American promoter, Top Rank, angling for an Inoue bout in April in Las Vegas, the front-runner for that fight is also a 122-pounder, Mexico’s David Picasso, two officials close to the situation told Boxing Scene this week.

The 24-year-old Picasso 30-0-1 (16 KOs) has ascended to become Inoue’s No. 1 and mandatory contender, according to the World Boxing Council. He’s the WBO’s eighth-ranked contender and unranked by the WBA and IBF, which lists Inoue’s Christmas Eve foe, Australia’s Sam Goodman, at No. 1.

“The kid is asking for the fight,” said Rene Aviles of Picasso’s promoter, Zanfer. “He wants the biggest fights, he wants to be a world champion and he’s ranked (No. 1). So that (an Inoue fight) is his path. It’s on the table.”

The pitch of Picasso by Zanfer, headed by Top Rank’s closely linked Mexico-based promoter Fernando Beltran, is that he’ll provide an entertaining scrap in Inoue’s most significant American date yet after two subdued COVID-era appearances and a 2017 undercard appearance beneath four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

While Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti said the financial structure of a potential Las Vegas bout for Inoue remains a substantial in-progress project, Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said he’s pursuing the April date in Las Vegas.

“We’re working on that and will have an announcement shortly … we’re not going to make any announcement until after Inoue fights on Christmas Eve,” Arum said. “If he comes through well, we’ll have an announcement at that time.”

Four-division champion Inoue, nicknamed “The Monster,” has dominated the sport and is considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters along with two-time undisputed and unbeaten champions, heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk and junior-middleweight Terence Crawford. 

Picasso’s representative Aviles expressed patience with the process.

“It’s a plan. Nothing’s settled yet. If we can get a deal done, we’ll be very happy. We know they have options,” he said.

Picasso has fought four times this year and is scheduled for a fifth bout Dec. 14 in Tijuana, fighting Isaac Sackey on the undercard of super-middleweight Jaime Munguia’s main event.

Munguia also headlined a Jan. 27 Phoenix card in which Picasso won a unanimous decision over Erik Ruiz. And on the May 4 Canelo Alvarez-Munguia card in Las Vegas, Picasso defeated Damian Vazquez by fifth-round TKO.

Picasso immediately impressed his handlers as a 17-year-old pro, fighting through a cracked rib to win a bout.

“He’s tough, he has balls,” Aviles said. “He’s not a big puncher, but he has very good punching volume and he can move, with a very high boxing IQ – very smart fighter,” Aviles said. “So far, he’s passed all the tests. He feels he’s ready.”

Inoue will determine that, of course.