One look at the junior-featherweight (122lbs/8st, 10lb) Ring Magazine ratings shows it’s only a question of time before ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue (28-0,25 KOs) steps up to attempt to conquer a fifth weight class.
Within 18 months he’s almost cleaned out the division.
First up, in July 2023, was previously undefeated ‘world’ champion Stephen Fulton, followed by IBF champion Marlon Tapales that December, and finally, Luis Nery to unify all the titles in May 2024. All were stopped inside schedule. This was Inoue’s second undisputed world championship, with various world sanctioning body titles in the other two. He was though considered the king in all four.
To illustrate the quality of the defeated junior-featherweight opposition, all still have a combined record of 94 wins with only 7 defeats and, been retained in The Ring top six in that weight class.
Finally, on Tuesday in Tokyo, he forced Irishman T J Doheny to lose, an up until then competitive fight, in the seventh on a strange injury sustained to his right leg. Doheny appeared to take a punch to his hip and as he came off the ropes his leg gave way, causing the referee to wave it over.
The ending was a surprise, but given the sustained pressure and power punching the challenger consumed in the sixth and early seventh round, a stoppage may have been on the cards further down the stretch.
This was Inoue’s ninth consecutive world championship stoppage.
Doheny, who entered the fight at #7 in The Ring ratings, is unlikely to drop his stock significantly. However, a re-match will not happen.
‘The Monster’ Inoue, age 31, from Kanagawa near Yokohama, has looked beyond compare in all four already conquered weight classes. He is well on the way to legendary status.
Top Rank Boxing Chairman and hall-of-fame promoter Bob Arum, no stranger to hyperbole, recently referred to Inoue as the best fighter he’s seen. On current evidence and achievement this is hard to argue against, even given the rich seam of talent Arum has mined and promoted over his 60+ years in the boxing business.
The Japanese’ has already shown he is a generational talent.
Four pounds up at featherweight (126lbs/9st) the ‘world’ titles are split, with no dominant champion. England’s Nick Ball (20-0-1, 11 KOs), the WBA champion, possibly with greatest potential. A further appearance by Inoue in the U.K is an option, after his Scottish sortie in 2019.
Mexico’s Rey Vargas (36-1-1, 22 KO’s) has the greatest power and best resume, and a contest against him would be equally lucrative. Hopefully the draw of the U.K both financially and from a legacy aspect will tempt Inoue to those shores when he does inevitably step up in weight.
For the time being Bob Arum has hinted at a further defence in Japan in December, followed by a visit to U.S in 2025 for a “..big celebration in Las Vegas”. We wait in anticipation, but a move up to the featherweight division seems inevitable.
The Undisputed 