Stephen Fulton v Naoya Inoue 25th July 2023

[Master]

Naoya Inoue may have only just become undisputed bantamweight champion, but he is already targeting the weight division above.

Earlier this month, Inoue overcame the then WBO bantamweight champion, Paul Butler, with a brutal eleventh round knockout, to claim his title and become undisputed bantamweight champion.

This rounds off a terrific year for Inoue, who also knocked out four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire in June in the second round.

With that being said, the 29-year-old by no means sees his considerable success so far as job done.

Inoue’s promoter and Top Rank founder Bob Arum, revealed to talkSPORT that ‘The Monster’ plans to become a two-weight undisputed world champion in 2023.

“I think he’s going to decide to vacate the bantamweight titles, he has all four of them, and move up to 122lbs,” Arum said.

“Each champion there has two of the titles, so his goal is to not only to win the 122lbs title, but to unify it.

“I don’t see anybody beating this guy, he boxes beautifully and he’s a concussive puncher, especially at his weight.”

Inoue’s power is undeniable, as he has 21 knockouts in his 24 fight so far, but the question is whether his KO ability will carry as far as the super bantamweight division, having begun his career at light flyweight.

The men who will put that to the test are WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion, Stephen Fulton, who has a professional record of 21-0, 8 KO’s.

And, the other champion at 122 lbs is Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who holds the IBF and WBA straps and has won all 11 of his fights so far, stopping eight of his opponents.

There is no doubt that Inoue is one of the pound-for-pound greats of his generation already, but is the super bantamweight division a step too far? We’ll find out next year.

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/1...champion-2023/

[Spicoli]

Inoue v Fulton may not be the fight some casuals want, but it's a big fight the sport needs. They've all but tee'd it up for Inoue with auto ranking just need to see what Fulton does.

[Ron Swanson]

Fulton is asking for it, it’s just a matter of what Inoue wants to do. It’s a pretty logical fight for Inoue, his weakness is keeping his chin up on a platter but Fulton doesn’t have a ton of power.
Really excited for this. Inoue is great, will be good to see him against better opposition to know how great. Fulton being by far the highest rated fighter he will have fought.

[TitoFan]

Inoue has been p4p #1 since even when groupies had Ginger at #1. Just that many don't even acknowledge the lighter weights. Inoue has cleaned out his division without all of the shenanigans that could fill reams of paper in the "other guy's" case. So if going up in weight will get him the notoriety he deserves... so be it. Some of us have known about him for years.

[TIC]

i hope a stephen fulton v brandon figueroa rematch doesn't get in the way of a naoya v stephen fight

[TIC]

stephen v naoya is official for may seventh