January 13, 2023
Boxing News

Inoue vacates bantamweight titles

Undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue has announced that he will make the jump to the super bantamweight division in his next fight and, therefore, will vacate his WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO 118-pound belts. At a press conference held in Yokohama, Japan, Inoue told reporters that he will be looking for new challenges in his career after having dominated the 118-pound division. The 29-year-old boxing superstar stressed that he is in the process of adapting to his new weight and that he is already looking for the best opponents in the category to face them.

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  • Between Donaire, Moloney, Rodriguez, Astrolabio and Inoue’s brother, there should be some really fun fights for those vacant belts later this year.
    Fulton is supposedly going up to 126 to rematch Figueroa for an interim title, if he stays up there, that leaves two vacant belts for Inoue to go after and the other two are with the same guy. I’d LOVE to see Inour – Akhmadaliev. That would be a war.

  • Fulton has seen the writing on the wall (ie Inoue moving to 122) for a while. He has no interest in Alhmadaliev and absolutely wants nothing to do with Inoue. But gotta give him credit for fighting Figueroa in a rematch. I admit I’m biased against boxers with zero ko power.

  • The latest news is that a link trailer full of 122 fighters are leaving the division and some are leaving boxing too, is not forCovid rather for another wnknown reason

  • What’s not to like about Inoue? Man cleans out his division, unifies the belts, does it in explosive exciting and dominant fashion, and almost immediately moves up to clean out the next one and create new exciting fights.

    He’s great, I’m thankful hes continued improved on his game over the years. Looking forward to seeing the new big matches at super bantamweight.

  • I’d love to see him become 4 belt unified champion in 2 divisions. He can do it, and what an accomplishment that would be!

  • IMO one these fighters might accept to face Inoue, provide a good offert is on the table: Luis Nery, Tomoki Kameda, Azat Hovhannisyan and Marlon Tapales and then, as we know politics in boxing work, if Inoue wins on his debut at 122 he will be placed as a mandatory, most likely against Fulton’s WBO and WBC titles, this is my guess

    • Casimero kept pulling out of fights. Had he not, they would have just fought because Casimero would have beaten Paul Butler. If Inoue is looking for titles though, he has no reason to fight him now.

    • Casimero isn’t in the running for anything. He already screwed off his opportunity before and is not a current world champion anywhere. Besides, the kids too crude for the monster and would get knocked out pretty quickly. Nobody wants to see that fight but you.

  • This guy is the real deal. His fights with Nonito and Rodriguez shows how good he is. I think his power will hold up at 122. I would like to see him fight Fulton.

  • This is one of a couple reasons why the monster is the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. Nobody else who holds all four belts who is undisputed would just vacate them and move up to a new weight class without securing a fight first. Fulton already slagged off Inoue when the monster was it 118, but now the Japanese fighter has come into the American’s division. If Fulton runs away then he will look like a coward. However, he has no business facing Inoue because he would 100% get knocked out. Fulton is a good boxer but he doesn’t have power, and there is nobody all the way up to 126 who can avoid Inoue’s onslaught for 12 rounds. Fulton would not be able to run all night, and would eventually be tracked down and stopped. My guess is that his team will avoid the fight at all costs, which means he’ll probably vacate his two titles and move up to 126.

  • You can’t help but love a boxer with Inoue’s capacity and attitude. One who has to find new challenges to always stay on top and push himself even further.

    It will be very interesting to continue to follow him and I hope he is not in too much of a hurry but that he gives himself 2-3 fights before he aims for the absolute top.

    There are many interesting challenges for Inoue at super bantamweight.

    For me, the most interesting fight would be the one against Fulton.

  • Just heard that Casimero is getting ranked WBO#1 and Inoue must fight him if Fulton vacates. But I reckon Inoue will avoid him again.

  • This man is nothing short of amazing!!! I’m going to continue to enjoy him as long as I can!!

  • Love to see contrast of styles fights, Inoue/Fulton would be a good fight because each brings who they are to the table and wins that way.

  • He’s going to beat everyone in the division as he did at bantamweight, and he’s going to do so without even breaking a sweat ! Inoue is by far the best fighter out of Japan ever..

  • Inoue is the only fighter I’ve seen that throws every punch in the book with incredible velocity and with seemingly no effort. His punches are mostly straight, except for the hooks, and carry incredible power. I’ve seen his brother fight but while his punches look good, they carry none of the impact that the Monster’s punches have. He must have been born with that natural power.

    I believe Inoue’s power will carry up to the 122 lb and 126 lb divisions. It’s going to be a fun next few years watching this incredible fighter.

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