Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue held a press conference on Tuesday where he announced that he will seek a title in his third divisional title when he challenges WBA bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell on a date in May.

In his 16th professional bout, Inoue, a former WBC light flyweight champion and WBO super flyweight champion, will face McDonnell in the Briton's seventh defense of his WBA crown on May 25 in Tokyo.

Should the 24-year-old Inoue win, he will become the fifth Japanese three-division world champion after Koki Kameda, Kazuto Ioka, Akira Yaegashi and Hozumi Hasegawa.

Inoue will vacate his WBO belt in the 115-pound (52.16-kilogram) weight class as he moves up to bantamweight at 118 lb (53.52 kg). He defended the WBO super flyweight title for the seventh straight time in December with an easy third round knockout of Yoann Boyeaux

"(Bantamweight) is a class that's familiar to Japanese fans. I'm looking forward to going to that stage too," Inoue said at a press conference.

In his sixth professional bout, Inoue won the WBC light flyweight title and defended it once before jumping two weight classes to super flyweight in 2014 when he demolished division veteran Omar Narvaez in two rounds. He is undefeated in with 15 wins, 13 by knockout.

Last September, Inoue made his United States debut, when he traveled over to the United States and knocked out Antonio Nieves in an HBO televised fight.

HBO had hoped to use him as part of their ongoing "Superfly" series, but the Japanese fighter dashed those hopes when he moved up in weight.

The 31-year-old McDonnell, a former IBF bantamweight champ, has 29 wins, including 13 KOs, two losses and one draw.

McDonnell is coming way from back to back fights with Liborio Solis. The first bout saw McDonnell win a controversial twelve round decision. A rematch was ordered by the World Boxing Association and saw them fight to a no-decision after a head clash in the third round.

McDonnell has been unbeaten since 2008 and he has never been stopped.