WBA and IBF bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue 22-0 (19) is considering a move up to super bantamweight following his eighth-round knockout victory over Aran Dipaen 12-3 (11) at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday night.
The first priority for the 28-year-old Japanese phenom is to unify all four major wolrd title belts at 118-pounds – a feat that would require him to defeat WBC boss Nonito ‘The Filipino Flash’ Donaire 42-6 (28) in a rematch and WBO kingpin John Riel ‘Quadro Alas’ Casimero 31-4 (21) – but if those bouts can’t be made, he is prepared to seek world championship laurels in his fourth weight class.
Donaire is coming off an impressive fourth-round knockout of previously undefeated Reymart Gaballo 24-1 (20) in Carson, California on Saturday night. Casimero was slated to fight Paul Butler 33-2 (15) on the weekend but was a late withdrawal with an undisclosed illness.
“I’ve been placing a lot of importance on unifying the four belts, but if the individual fights don’t happen, I’ll start thinking about the super bantamweight title,” Inoue said after defeating Dipaen.
At super bantamweight Uzbeki southpaw Murodjon ‘MJ’ Akhmadaliev 10-0 (7) holds the WBA and IBF championships. Stephen ‘Cool Boy’ Fulton 20-0 (8) is the WBC and WBO champ after lifting the green belt from Brandon ‘The Heartbreaker’ Figueroa 22-1-1 (17) by majority decision late last month. Both match-ups for Inoue would be enticing affairs for boxing fans.
Inoue was widely expected to walk through the little-known Dipaen, who proved to be tougher than expected with a very solid beard. The champion had to show patience to grind down the 30-year-old Thai, who had a bloodied nose by the middle rounds.
Inoue landed regularly to the body and head but Dipaen wouldn’t budge. It took until the eighth round for Inoue to deck Dipaen. The challenger beat the count, but a follow-up left hook was enough for referee Michiaki Someya to step in and halt the contest at the 2:34 mark.
“He used to be a Muay Thai fighter and he brought that toughness,” Inoue said. “I started to wonder whether my punches were having an effect – that’s how tough he was.
“The fight didn’t go as everyone was expecting, but it was good to fight in Japan again after two years.”
Inoue won his first world title at junior flyweight when he stopped Mexican Adrian Hernandez is six frames in 2014 to claim the WBC belt. He would defend the title once before jumping up to super flyweight to defeat Omar Narvaez by second round knockout for WBO title later the same year.
Inoue made seven defence of the title before moving up to bantamweight to lift the WBA strap from Jamie McDonald by first round knockout. The victory gained him entry to the World Boxing Super Series. He walked through Juan Carlos Payano and then-IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez in one and two rounds respectively before meeting Donaire in the final.
Donaire fractured Inoue’s orbital bone before being dropped in the 11th stanza with a body shot. Inoue emerged victorious with a 116-111, 114,113 and 117-109 points win to claim the coveted Muhammad Ali Trophy in a bout that was labelled the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year.
