Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Naoya Inoue has now vacated his WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO bantamweight world titles with the aim of winning belts in a new division.
The 118lbs king united all four belts as an undisputed champion last month – the culmination of a four-year-spell in the division.
Inoue’s world title campaign began in boxing’s second smallest division in just his sixth professional fight.
Back in early 2014, aged just 20, Inoue knocked out Adrian Hernandez to win the WBC light-flyweight (108lbs) world title.
He made one defence of this belt before making his first leap up in weight.
If he’d wanted to, Inoue could surely have won a world title in the flyweight (112lbs) division, but he instead took the opportunity to jump straight up to super-flyweight (115lbs).
Despite facing a bigger foe than he was used to, Inoue stopped Omar Narvaez in two rounds and won the WBO world title to become a two-weight king at age 21.
Sadly, he struggled to get the unification fights he craved in the division and, after seven successful defences, he moved up again three years later.
In his first fight at bantamweight (118lbs), he again proved straight away that he would have no issue dealing with bigger opponents and knocked out Jamie McDonnell in round one.
He then entered the World Boxing Super Series tournament for the division in which he beat Emmanuel Rodriguez and Nonito Donaire to emerge as unified IBF and WBA world champion – a three-weight king.
While the pandemic stunted his progress in 2020 and 2021, Inoue was determined to become undisputed with all four belts at bantamweight.
Last year, after Donaire won the WBC crown, Inoue rematched him and knocked him out to take it.
Then, in his most recent fight, he stopped WBO champion Paul Butler to achieve his goal as undisputed champion.
Now, with his work at bantamweight done, Inoue has announced that he’s vacating all four belts and moving up to super-bantamweight (122lbs).
His goal now is to become a four-weight world champion, and it’s even possible that he could look to be undisputed once again.
At present there are just two champions in the super-bantamweight division.
Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev has the WBA and IBF belts, while America’s Stephen Fulton owns the WBC and WBO.
Both of these champions already have their next fights in the first quarter of 2023 planned out.
Akhmadaliev will make a mandatory defence against Marlon Tapales and Fulton will move up to featherweight (126lbs), while keeping his super-bantamweight belts, for a rematch with Brandon Figueroa.
It appears likely that Inoue may first take a fight against a contender to get used to the new division before then seeking one of the champions.
https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/1...a-wbc-ibf-wbo/
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
If he goes up and dominates this division, it’s gonna cement his position as #1 p4p big time. What a fucking beast this guy is.
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
naoya should do what other top wbo champions have done & request to be made mandatory at one twenty two
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
if stephen fulton isn't available i wouldn't mind ra'eese aleem
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TIC
naoya should do what other top wbo champions have done & request to be made mandatory at one twenty two
naoya was installed as number one at one twenty two in the latest wbo rankings & now there is talk of them fighting around may or june in japan. these little guys are showing the boxing world how it's done. how do we see this fight going?
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Inoue vs Fulton is one of my top 3 fights that I'd like to see made, so thats great news. It's hard to pick against Inoue but I might have to in this fight
It's an attractive clash of styles between 2 excellent fighters
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
bith guys should be commended if this fight gets done so quick & stephen willing travel to japan should also be applauded
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TIC
bith guys should be commended if this fight gets done so quick & stephen willing travel to japan should also be applauded
I never said I would go
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Tremendous direction this showdown is going. Sometimes I'm on the "well why is a,b,c fighter being ushered into immediate next division shot". Wbo does this a lot. but Inoue is on a completely different level with full unification. Think he carries 122 fine. Fulton should be a model for other champs just having comfy fights handed to them by promoters and guarding that 0. The man gets nothing but respect walking into the lions den at home. Great match up.
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Any suggestions for possible sparring partners for both boxers to prepare for this fight?
Both fighters have very difficult styles to imitate
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Big J
Any suggestions for possible sparring partners for both boxers to prepare for this fight?
Both fighters have very difficult styles to imitate
julian gifted gonzalez who fought & won on showtime tonight might be a good option for cool boy
Re: Inoue vacates undisputed bantamweight world titles
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TIC
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Big J
Any suggestions for possible sparring partners for both boxers to prepare for this fight?
Both fighters have very difficult styles to imitate
julian gifted gonzalez who fought & won on showtime tonight might be a good option for cool boy
I'll check him out
Those numbers you have posted show that this fight is a real fight fans fight
