Via Craig Daly: Naoya Inoue and WBC & WBO bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton are gearing up for April, said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.
Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) is moving up to the 122 lb division in hopes of winning the fourth world title and becoming the undisputed secondweight champion in 2023.
The match between Inoue and Fulton will take place in Japan if it is done successfully. Fulton (21-0.8 KOs) feels confident he will defeat the 29-year-old ‘Monster’ Inoue with his superior physique and technical ability, which he believes will surpass his opponent in speed and power of the hand. Japanese star.
“My Japanese partner is working and that is also what we are trying to accomplish in April,” Top Rated promoter Bob Arum told Monday when asked about the fight between Stephen Fulton and WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton.
Fulton is ready to be a star
If 28-year-old Fulton beats Inoue, he will become an overnight star in America, taking his career to the next level.
Although competing in a weight class rarely attracts much attention from American boxing fans, Philadelphia-born fighter Fulton has a chance to become a star if he defeats ‘The Beast’ Inoue convincingly.
With that said, Fulton will likely be a lot weaker than superstar Inoue when the game goes on, and he’ll need to shock the world by making him uncomfortable.
The question is whether Inoue will eventually surpass himself in choosing to move up to the fourth weight class because he started his career at 112th in 2012, and he has already passed the weight classes. easily, beat your opponents easily, grab titles quickly along the way.
Inoue didn’t mix it up with the best
What didn’t get much attention was the less spectacular opposition Inoue had to face. While he has won many titles, he has not faced any elite opposition during his career.
Arguably the best fighter Inoue has faced during his 10-year professional career is Nonito Donaire, and he was 37 years old when he fought him for the first time in 2019 in a match. tough fight. This is not the main version of Donaire that Inoue fought, but he suffered a lot of punishment during the fight.
Aside from Donaire, the rest of the fighters Inoue has on his résumé are a mix of paper champions and B-rankers.
Inoue’s best opposition:
- Nonito Donaire
- Paul the butler
- Jason Moloney
- Emmanuel Rodriguez
- Juan Carlos Payano
- Jamie McDonnell
- Kohei Kono
- Omar Narvaez
- Adrian Hernandez
- Ryoichi Taguchi
