Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue 25-0 (22) once against proved his greatness by knocking out Stephen ‘Cool Boy’ Fulton 21-1 (8) in the eighth round to claim the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday night.
In a brilliant display of power boxing, the 30-year-old Japanese superstar showed why is regarded as one of the best boxers pound-for-pound on the planet.
Philadelphia’s Fulton, 29, was expected to present Inoue with the toughest test of his 11 year pro career, but he was consistently out-fought and out-thought throughout the contest.
For the first three rounds Fulton boxed conservatively, allowing Inoue to take the lead, but he came alive in the fourth after seemingly adjusting to Inoue’s vaunted power. Fulton was competitive in the fifth, but after that it was all Inoue as the now five division champion tore into him with body shots and hard right hands and left hooks upstairs.
With each passing round Inoue upped the pressure and despite what Fulton tried, he simply couldn’t keep the hometown fighter at bay. A right cross wobbled Fulton in the eighth and a follow up left hook sent him to the canvas.
Showing the grit and determination of a champion, Fulton pulled himself to his feet but the writing was on the wall. Inoue swarmed him and let his hands go, crumpling the visitor and sending his to the deck for the second time in the frame.
Referee Hector Afu of Panama wisely waved off the contest at the 1:14 mark.
All three judges had Inoue comfortably ahead at the time of the stoppage by scores of 68-65 and 69-64 twice.
“Everything I was thinking about this year was to fight him and become a four-division champion,” Inoue said after the fight. “Unfortunately I hurt myself in training camp and had to wait.”
The CompuBox numbers reflected Inoue’s dominance. He outlanded Fulton in all but one round and connected with 44 jabs and 70 power shots compared to 23 and 24 respectively for the American. All up, Inoue outlanded Fulton 114 blows to 47.
Inoue has previously claim world honours at junior flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight, unifying all four major world titles at 118-pounds. With the win over Fulton he joins Kazuto Ioka as the only Japanese boxer to win world titles in four separate weight classes.
Next up looks like a shot at repeating his bantamweight performance at 122-pounds, with a fight against WBA and IBF champion Marlon ‘Nightmare’ Tapales 37-3 (19) of the Philippines on the offing.
“I’m very happy to become the super bantamweight champion,” Inoue said. “I truly appreciate your supports and contributions to this great event.”
Southpaw Tapales, 31, was on hand to offer his congratulations to Inoue in the ring after the bout.
“I want to fight Inoue because he is a great champion,” Tapales said.
Inoue was all in.
“Let’s do this, this year,” he said.
