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Former undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, who is 24-0 as a pro, is stepping up to super-bantam to challenge Stephen Fulton for the unified WBC and WBO titles on July 25, live on Sky Sports
The contest had initially been set for May 7 before Inoue reportedly suffered an injury during training, resulting in the fight being pushed back.
After becoming the undisputed bantamweight champion Japanese star Inoue, one of the most fearsome punchers in world boxing, is now moving up a division to take on a fellow unbeaten fighter in America’s Fulton.
Philadelphia’s Fulton puts his WBC and WBO super-bantamweight titles on the line against Japan’s pound-for-pound king.
The showdown pits two of the world’s top fighters against one another, as Inoue aims to become only the fifth Asian boxer to win world titles in four weight classes.
Inoue, 24-0 (21), has gone 19-0 in world title fights with 17 of them coming by way of knockout.
His championship run started in 2014 when he knocked out Adrian Hernandez for the WBC light-flyweight world title.
He went on to rule the super-flyweight division with seven title defences, including a second-round stoppage over Omar Narvaez.
At bantamweight, Inoue became the division’s first undisputed champion in a half-century, stopping Emmanuel Rodriguez in two rounds to win the IBF strap, outlasting Nonito Donaire in a 2019 Fight of the Year to add the WBA belt, starching Donaire in the second round of their June 2022 rematch to snatch the WBC title, and stopping then-WBO champion Paul Butler in the 11th round.
Inoue vacated all four bantamweight titles to move up four pounds for his shot at ‘Cool Boy Steph’ Fulton.
Fulton, 21-0 (8), turned pro in 2014 and defeated five previously unbeaten prospects in his first 12 bouts.
In January 2021, he defeated Angelo Leo to capture the WBO super-bantamweight world title before adding the WBC belt to his collection 10 months later with a majority decision over then-unbeaten Brandon Figueroa.
Fulton defended both titles last June with a one-sided unanimous decision over former unified world champion Daniel Roman.
Stephen Fulton Jr. (Cool Boy Steph) defends his WBC and WBO super-bantamweight titles against Naoya Inoue (The Monster). Let’s take a look at the stats, odds of winning, and the prediction for this fight.
Date
This fight between Stephen Fulton Jr. and Naoya Inoue will take place on 25 July, 2023 at the Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan.
Prediction and Odds
After considering both the fighters’ stats and their performance patterns, the vulkanbet suggested winning odds is calculated to be at 69-31 in favor of Naoya Inoue. Here is the prediction for Fulton Jr. vs Inoue.
Naoya Inoue should win this fight. It is going to be very hard for Stephen Fulton Jr. to win this one.
Tale of the Tape
At 169 cm, Stephen Fulton Jr. is the taller of the two by 4 cms; Naoya Inoue is 165 cm. Besides being the taller fighter, with a reach of 179 cm, Fulton Jr. also has a good reach advantage of 8 cms over Inoue’s 171 cm. On top of that, Fulton Jr. also has a 4 cm ape index advantage over Inoue.
Fulton Jr. is coming in to this fight with an undefeated record of 21-0 (8 KOs). His last fight was 1 year, 1 month, and 21 days ago against Daniel Roman, which he won via 12 round unanimous decision.
Inoue also comes in with an undefeated record of 24-0 (21 KOs). His last fight was 7 months and 12 days ago against Paul Butler, which he won via 11th round TKO.
Both the fighters fight out of the orthodox stance.
On the day of the fight, Fulton Jr. will be 29 years old. Inoue will be 30 years and 3 months old.
Result
While we await the outcome of this fight, what is your prediction? Do you think Fulton Jr. can beat Inoue? How do you think he beats Inoue? Or will Inoue win?
