aoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton face off immediately in Japan for the unified super-bantamweight world titles which could possibly be the battle of a blockbuster summer time of boxing.
Inoue is trying to dominate one other weight class, having vacated his 4 bantamweight belts after a dominant and gruelling late stoppage of England’s Paul Butler in December, which noticed him grow to be the primary undisputed males’s bantamweight champion of the four-belt period, and now strikes as much as the 122lbs division.
Nicknamed ‘The Monster’, Inoue is already a three-division world champion and needs to additional improve his status as a pound-for-pound celebrity and one in every of boxing’s most-feared and hardest-hitting knockout kings in entrance of an adoring residence crowd - although is not going to have all of it his personal method..
Having now recovered from a coaching harm that compelled the unique May 7 date to be pushed again, Inoue faces a troublesome check towards Fulton, the undefeated American who beat Angelo Leo for the WBO super-bantamweight belt again in 2021, having beforehand held the IBO strap, and added the WBC model by outpointing Brandon Figueroa later in the identical 12 months.
The 21-0 Fulton had been anticipated to rematch Figueroa for the interim WBC featherweight title earlier than the possibility to tackle Inoue in a mouth-watering showdown emerged.
Now the 29-year-old Philadelphia native will journey to Asia for his very first battle outdoors the US, hoping to ace one of the crucial tough assignments that the game at present has to supply.
Fulton vs Inoue takes place on Tuesday July 25, 2023 on the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
It’s a daytime deal with for UK battle followers, with the main-card motion set to get underway at round 9:30am BST.
Main occasion ring walks are anticipated at roughly 12:30pm, although that's topic to vary.
Tuesday’s co-main occasion will see Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez defend his WBO flyweight world title towards Japan’s skilled 2012 Olympic medalist Satoshi Shimizu.
Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue
Robeisy Ramirez vs Satoshi Shimizu
Chihiro Iwashita vs Hiroyuki Takahara
Kanamu Sakama vs Ryu Horikawa
Taiga Imanaga vs Hebi Marapu
Yoshiki Takei vs Ronnie Baldonado
Yuki Kajitani vs Masato Shinoda
Kenta Yamakawa vs Ryosuke Nakamura
Takero Kitano vs Kenta Kawakami
TV channel: In the UK, Fulton vs Inoue is accessible to look at stay on Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Main Event, with protection starting at 9:30am BST.
Live stream: Those with a Sky Sports subscription can even catch the motion because it occurs on-line by way of the Sky Go app.
LIVE protection: You can comply with stay protection of the whole card with Standard Sport’s battle weblog on the day.
One of essentially the most highly-anticipated fights of 2023 kicks off an incredible interval of summer time boxing that additionally consists of Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence Jr, Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith, Anthony Joshua vs Dillian Whyte, Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois, Canelo Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo and lots of extra.
But this actually does have the potential to be the most effective of the lot because the vicious Inoue - the primary Asian boxer ever to grow to be a four-belt world champion - faces the battle of his profession towards the planet’s greatest super-bantamweight.
The odds are actually towards Fulton in Inoue’s again yard, however he's a intelligent, slick, versatile and skilled fighter who has the talents essential to frustrate and bypass his opponent’s superior energy.
After demolishing the great Nonito Donaire in a hopelessly one-sided rematch of their bloody 2019 traditional, ‘The Monster’ battered Butler earlier than Christmas, however for a change struggled to discover a trademark venomous end earlier than lastly breaking his cussed resistance with a sometimes violent barrage within the penultimate spherical.
He received’t have issues fully his personal method right here and we anticipate a number of cagey however fascinating rounds the place Fulton is ready to avoid these trademark energy punches that reverberate across the space and maybe even take a lead on the playing cards.
However, you may solely keep away from the Inoue onslaught for thus lengthy, as a file of 21 knockouts from 24 outings can attest, so anticipate the house favorite to finally put on down his rival’s defences and inflict his maiden skilled defeat by way of a brutal late stoppage.
Inoue to win by way of late knockout.
Fulton hit the scales at 121.9lbs, whereas Inoue got here in ever-so-slightly lighter at 121.7lbs. Both males have been safely beneath the 122lbs super-bantamweight restrict as anticipated, so it’s battle very a lot on.
Fulton to win: 11/4
Inoue to win: 1/4
Draw: 16/1
Fulton to win by KO, TKO or DQ: 10/1
Fulton to win by choice/technical choice: 4/1
Inoue to win by KO, TKO or DQ: 10/11
Inoue to win by choice/technical choice: 5/2
Odds by way of Betfair (topic to vary).
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