Undefeated three-division world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Naoya Inoue 24-0 (21) says he feel more than comfortable at 122-pounds as he put the finishing touches on his preparation to face WBC and WBO champion Stephen ‘Cool Boy’ Fulton 21-0 (8) at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on July 25.
The 30-year-old from Japan has held various versions of the world championship at junior flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight since claiming his first belt nearly a decade ago. The Fulton bout will be his 20th straight world title fight.
“By moving up from 118 to 122 pounds, I feel more comfortable, stronger and sharper. I’ve also improved my speed,” Inoue said after completing a short open workout that consisted of skipping rope and shadow boxing.
A day earlier American Fulton, 28, performed his own truncated workout for the press and public that lasted less than three minutes, telling people in attendance: “I don’t like to show my training.”
Ohashi Boxing Gym’s chairman, Hideyuki Ohashi, said: “The gamesmanship has already begun. I understand how Fulton feels.”
Fulton won the WBO title with a unanimous decision win over Angelo Leo in January 2021 and added the WBC crown to his trophy cabinet with a majority decision win over Brandon Figueroa 10 months later.
He successfully defended his belts against former unified champion Daniel Roman in his last outing in June last year, pitching a shutout on two of the official judges’ scorecards.
Inoue represents another step up in class but Fulton says he is more than ready for the unique skillset the local boxer will bring to the ring.
“Naoya Inoue’s best asset is his excellent timing in punching rather than his power punching,” Fulton said. “But I’ll be able to outbox him by fighting intelligently.”
Inoue’s credentials are well known. After claiming the WBC junior flyweight title in April 2014 and making one successful title defence, he jumped up two weight classes to annex the WBO super flyweight bauble from long-reigning champion Omar Narvaez in Decmeber 2014.
Seven successful title defence would follow before he moved up to bantamweight in 2018 where he collected all four major world titles one by one to become the undisputed champion of the division last year.
The Fulton bout will be his first foray at super bantamweight.
“I have absolutely nothing to be anxious about,” Inoue said to the Japan Times. “As the challenger for the first time in a while, I’m as fired up as I’ve ever been.”
Victory for Inoue will make him just the second Japanese boxer to win world championships in four separate weight classes, joining Kazuto Ioka who completed the feat in 2019.
“My work is going well,” Inoue said. “I’m handling the preparations. I am thinking super bantam is the best weight for me.”
