Few fights at the lower weights get people as excited as “The Monster” Naoya Inoue facing his toughest challenge yet in Stephen Fulton. Inoue, who was the undisputed world champion at bantamweight before giving up all four of his world titles en route to challenging for a world title at his fourth weight class, super bantamweight has previously held world titles at light flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight.
Inoue in typically legend fashion is not going after just any old opponent, nope - he is going after the unified WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion, Stephen Fulton Jr., widely considered the best fighter in the division. The bout is one of those mega-fights that anyone with a deep-rooted interest in the sport of boxing is eyeing and hopes that where there is smoke there is fire, and that this fight comes to fruition. On Wednesday, March 1st, we are inching closer to that being the case with the following news.
“SET YOUR ALARMS,” said boxing personality Dan Canobbio, the son of CompuBox’s founder Bob Canobbio. “Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton goes down on Tuesday, May 23rd from Tokyo, Japan.”
Though the fight has not had an official press release fight fans have been optimistic that this bout can and will happen given that not many options exist for either fighter, outside of one and another in the 122 lbs weight class. You have Luis Nery, who is a mandatory for the WBC world title after his entertaining win over Azat Hovhannisyan, you have Ra’eese Aleem, who never seems to get a good fight, and you have the unified IBF and WBA world champion, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is looking towards defend his titles against his mandatories in the near future. Outside of those names, not many fighters make sense unless mandated by a sanctioning body to face the top level of opposition.
“This fight [with Naoya Inoue] is for myself, I don’t care what anybody say, I don’t care about the rankings,” said Stephen Fulton Jr., when on Brian Custer’s The Last Stand Podcast when talking about this fight. "I am about to go out there and defend my [world] title, that’s major. I owe all that to myself, I need to be thanking myself for making [this fight] happen."
The news which broke first from Mike Coppinger on ESPN.com, on January 18th, 2023, has had little to no movement which is often not the greatest sign of a fight happening. The news from a trusted source in the boxing community such as Dan Canobbio gives fight fans not just a date, but excitement around a possible upcoming official fight announcement.
“I remember talking to Wahid right after the Leo fight about Inoue. I went to Al Haymon about making the fight happen, and Al made the fight happen. I’m still with Al. He is my guy. Every time I ask Al for something, he’s come through,” said Fulton to Jonathan Santoliquito on February 8th, for RingTV.com “I have no fear about going over to Japan and being screwed over. When you know how to fight, and I know how to fight, you don’t worry about the judges or any of that other stuff.
Few fights at the lower weights get people as excited as “The Monster” Naoya Inoue facing his toughest challenge yet in Stephen Fulton. Inoue, who was the undisputed world champion at bantamweight before giving up all four of his world titles en route to challenging for a world title at his fourth weight class, super bantamweight has previously held world titles at light flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight.
Inoue in typically legend fashion is not going after just any old opponent, nope - he is going after the unified WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion, Stephen Fulton Jr., widely considered the best fighter in the division. The bout is one of those mega-fights that anyone with a deep-rooted interest in the sport of boxing is eyeing and hopes that where there is smoke there is fire, and that this fight comes to fruition. On Wednesday, March 1st, we are inching closer to that being the case with the following news.
“SET YOUR ALARMS,” said boxing personality Dan Canobbio, the son of CompuBox’s founder Bob Canobbio. “Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton goes down on Tuesday, May 23rd from Tokyo, Japan.”
Though the fight has not had an official press release fight fans have been optimistic that this bout can and will happen given that not many options exist for either fighter, outside of one and another in the 122 lbs weight class. You have Luis Nery, who is a mandatory for the WBC world title after his entertaining win over Azat Hovhannisyan, you have Ra’eese Aleem, who never seems to get a good fight, and you have the unified IBF and WBA world champion, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is looking towards defend his titles against his mandatories in the near future. Outside of those names, not many fighters make sense unless mandated by a sanctioning body to face the top level of opposition.
“This fight [with Naoya Inoue] is for myself, I don’t care what anybody say, I don’t care about the rankings,” said Stephen Fulton Jr., when on Brian Custer’s The Last Stand Podcast when talking about this fight. "I am about to go out there and defend my [world] title, that’s major. I owe all that to myself, I need to be thanking myself for making [this fight] happen."
The news which broke first from Mike Coppinger on ESPN.com, on January 18th, 2023, has had little to no movement which is often not the greatest sign of a fight happening. The news from a trusted source in the boxing community such as Dan Canobbio gives fight fans not just a date, but excitement around a possible upcoming official fight announcement.
“I remember talking to Wahid right after the Leo fight about Inoue. I went to Al Haymon about making the fight happen, and Al made the fight happen. I’m still with Al. He is my guy. Every time I ask Al for something, he’s come through,” said Fulton to Jonathan Santoliquito on February 8th, for RingTV.com “I have no fear about going over to Japan and being screwed over. When you know how to fight, and I know how to fight, you don’t worry about the judges or any of that other stuff.