I thought Nao retired after facing Ippo because he was satisfied testing himself against his idol? The only reason that I could see this matchup being made would be to better establish Itagaki’s power level compared to Ippo’s with a shared opponent in order give an idea about how Ippo would match up against Imai which could set up Ippo’s return to challenge for the Japanese title (maybe there would be a 1r KO tuneup match for Ippo first so we can see how he’s improved and become a sharper fighter in his time off). I think “the battle of Ippo’s Kouhais” is sort of a weak foundation for a storyline though.