Stephen Fulton v Naoya Inoue 25th July 2023

[Primo Carnera]

There aren’t many fights that I’m looking forward to more than this. In my opinion Inoue is the #1 Boxer in the World at the moment.
I don’t know a great deal about Fulton, but I know that he’s possibly the best in the division, so more power to Inoue for not trying to just pick off belts from weak champions.
Proper Boxing this is.

[TIC]

I don’t know a great deal about Fulton

these three fights should get you familiar with stephen
stephen fulton v arnold khegai

stephen fulton v angelo leo. might need a vpn in some countries

stephen fulton v brandon figueroa

[Master]

Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue is boxing at its best as elite fight of pound-for-pound stars has been made straight away with both men in their primes.

Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue has now been officially announced for May 7 in Yokohama, Japan and represents the sport of boxing at its very best.

The fight, which many fans believe is the greatest that can be made in the sport today, pits two of the elite fighters in the lower weight classes against one another.

America’s Fulton will be the defending world champion, with Inoue moving up to try and become a four-division king.

Inoue’s title campaign began in boxing’s second smallest weight class in just his sixth professional fight.

Back in early 2014, at just 20 years of age, he knocked out Adrian Hernandez to win the WBC light-flyweight (108lbs) world title.

Inoue made one defence of this belt before making his first move up in weight.

If he’d wanted to, the Japanese superstar could surely have won a world title in the flyweight (112lbs) division, but he instead took the opportunity to leap straight up to super-flyweight (115lbs).

Despite facing a bigger foe than he was accustomed to, Inoue stopped Omar Narvaez in just two rounds and won the WBO world title to become a two-weight king at age 21.

He sadly struggled to get the unification fights he craved in the division and, after seven successful defences, moved up again three years later.

In his first fight at bantamweight (118lbs), he proved once more that he would have no issue dealing with bigger opponents and knocked out Jamie McDonnell in the first round.

He then entered the World Boxing Super Series tournament in which he beat Emmanuel Rodriguez and Nonito Donaire to emerge as unified IBF and WBA world champion – a three-division king.

While the pandemic stunted his progress in 2020 and 2021, Inoue was determined to become undisputed and hold all four belts at bantamweight.

Last year, after Donaire won the WBC crown, Inoue rematched him and knocked him out in two rounds to take it.

Then, in his most recent fight, he stopped WBO champion Paul Butler in December to achieve his goal as undisputed king.

With his work at bantamweight done, Inoue vacated all four belts and announced his plans to move up to super-bantamweight (122lbs).

At present there are just two champions in the division.

Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev holds the WBA and IBF belts, while America’s Fulton owns the WBC and WBO.

Fulton announced himself on the scene in 2021 as he first won the WBO crown by outpointing Angelo Leo.

He then had his first breakout win by jumping straight into a unification fight with Brandon Figueroa and taking the Mexican’s WBC belt.

In his most recent fight, Fulton beat former WBA and IBF champion Daniel Roman in another impressive points victory.

The 28-year-old American is a magnificent boxer and will likely provide the toughest challenge of Inoue’s career to date.

The 29-year-old Japanese destroyer will still be favourite to emerge victorious, but Fulton could return home as a bona fide star if he retains his belts.

Despite all the aforementioned details, what’s perhaps most impressive about this fight is how it has come about.

It’s rare to see two elite pound-for-pound talents such as these meeting in their primes, let alone with a deal done so quickly and no messy public negotiations.

Fulton and Inoue have both made this fight happen and on May 7 they will deliver boxing at its very best.

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/1...e-boxing-best/

[Denilson3.0]

Inoue got random drug tested a few days ago, now he's suddenly injured ?



His Yakuza backers will no doubt make sure his positive test won't be made public. Actually should not write that. That's slander. Gotta give it some balance as he signs up to Vada testing and has been clean every time and VADA are the ones who caught Connor Benn and Baby Miller. So they don't mess about.



But when it does happen. It will be interesting bcoz Inoue has never fought a black fighter and when asked about that in regards to Fulton this is what he said



I give him maximum respect because he's moved up in weight and is fighting the best guy at that weight but Fulton is looking like the second coming of Sweet Pea. It's a 50/50 fight

• Fulton is the heaviest in ring weight that Inoue has fought
• Fulton is the best boxer that Inoue has fought
• Fulton has the longest reach that Inoue has fought
• Fulton is the 2nd tallest that Inoue has fought.
• Fulton is the unified champion at a new weight class for Fulton.

Inoue at 118 ? Game over for anyone who steps in the ring. At 122, how will his power will carry ? Butler had Inoue a little frustrated at times, and he's nowhere near as skilled as Fulton. Fulton is something different.

[CutMeMick]

Inoue by KO 😎

[Denilson3.0]

I've always loved a good sperm-weight clash and good lawd is this a great fight. Proper pound-for-pound stuff right here. Puts all of the bigger muggins to shame. 9.30am fight start is a little strange but donuts and coffee instead of pizza and wings....fine by me! Always interesting when different boxing cultures (to put it diplomatically) clash. Is Fulton bout to put that King Kong down on Gonzilla the bum killer ? Or will the manlet nippon god claim another body ?

Cool Boy Steph is 21-0 and 9 of those 21 were undefeated. 4 of them back to back to back to back, 2 of which were for world titles. Unified champion in less than 20 fights and is the best 122 pounder in the world!

The man is no joke.

But Inoue is responsible for more liver damage than alcoholism.







Inoue's going up to his fourth weight class and he hasn't even thrown a single punch in the division yet and he demanded the Fulton fight. That's unbelievable G-ness.

And as for the hand wrap issue well, the issue is not so much tape on bare skin, as layer after layer of gauze, tape, gauze, tape, gauze, tape, gauze, tape... that's double stacking. It's the double stacking that's illegal but stacking is legal in some countries and states in USA. People say Inoue been double stacking, it’s affects punches makes them much harder.

But fair play to Inoue coz

INOUE AGREED TO WRAP HIS HANDS BY THE METHOD FULTON INSISTED ON.

Either Fulton and his team threatened to walk from the fight or Inoue's and his team want make an emphatic statement by knocking Fulton out with his insisted wraps AND with pillows.

I don't see Inoue Kamikazing Fulton though.

The size difference is enormous



But Fulton doesn’t hit hard and that could be his problem because it's gonna be very hard for a backfoot defensive slick blk fighter to get a decision in Japan over their Japanese star. That's why I see Fulton winning the fight to most people but Inoue getting the decision. Because if you think Fulton is getting a decision in Japan you're smoking rocks.

[Spicoli]

Been tough to keep up with current situation but hats off and big respects for these two fighters. Subway oversimplifying it but this one has that pressure breaks pipes feel and the inevitability that Fulton will stand in more and more as it goes and have to repel Inoue and that body attack. Going Inoue championship round stoppage, corner wouldn’t shock me, or Inoue big descision. Made mistake of thinking this was 2pm and not 2am so probably end up missing it live. 12 hrs Tuesday waits for no one . Just enjoy this awesome event, no bs on cards or with officials and may the best champ win! This sport is back after sputtering a bit.

[TitoFan]

Thought there was an off chance that this might be PPV or available on some other platform other than a streaming service. Turns out ESPN+ is the only option in this side of the world.
Damn... I hate to miss that fight, as I would've gladly gotten up at dawn to watch it.

Oh well, not a problem. I'll watch the replay whenever it's available... 'cause I'm sure it's gonna be an instant classic.

[Spicoli]

5 hours? Ima try to burn the midnight oil straight thru

[Ron Swanson]

That was impressive. Number 1 spot until winner of Spence/Crawford