Stephen Fulton vs. Naoya Inoue | ESPN - July 25, 2023

[gregregegg]

With a clear win inoue goes to p4p 1 I think. Or at least him and usyk become very hard to split. Both are guys with big but not insane followings that are looking for all the smoke…

Excellent fight, inoue is a once in a generation type fighter I think, never seen a lil lad that’s that good and whacks like that.

Wish he didn’t jump over the 112 belt, wish he fought Estrada and choc, but he really looks like he is just trying to get the biggest fights he can..

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fulton: "I Feel Like I'm Gonna Out-Class Inoue; The Power's Not Gonna Matter To Me"

“I feel like I’m just gonna show swag in this fight, show style, show class,” Fulton told Custer during a recent episode of his “Last Stand Podcast,” which is available on YouTube. “I feel like I’m gonna out-class him. I feel like the power’s not gonna matter to me. The power may matter to the fans, because they lookin’ at the records. But who have he fought of my significance, of my style? Who has he fought? We seen everyone comes forward to him and try and dog him out, and then get hit with some crazy shots. You never seen someone [against Inoue] who can mix it up like me. I have a style for every fighter. And it shows.”

“Power don’t just win fights,” Fulton said. “I’m smart. How you think I got here? My skills, my mindset, my speed, my slickness. And guess what? Everybody say I don’t got power until they get in there, and these guys is not fighting everybody how they used to fight these guys. So, I feel like you can’t speak on power when everyone wear them eight-ounce gloves, everyone has power. You feel every punch.”

[margaret thatcher]

fulton is a serious threat, cant sleep on him.........got every physical advantage (height, reach, natural size) and a style which can give inoue problems as he looks to set himself to punch

issue might be that he doesnt have the firepower to hold inoue off, but natural size + movement could help offset that

[goose 5]

I like Fulton to pull the upset, via decision.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fulton-Inoue 122-Pound Championship Clash Set For May 7 At Yokohama Arena

A date and location have been secured for the best matchup to grace the 2023 boxing schedule.

Boxing Scene has confirmed that the highly anticipated Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue championship fight will take place May 7 at Yokohama Arena in Inoue’s hometown of Yokohama, Japan. Fulton will defend his unified WBC/WBO junior featherweight crown versus Inoue, who recently vacated his undisputed bantamweight championship in pursuit of winning a title in a fourth weight division.

Monday's announcement came with the news that local streaming rights will be carried by Lemino. ESPN+ is expected to carry the pound-for-pound showdown in the U.S.

The stellar matchup will mark the fourth straight in his home country for Inoue and second in his hometown venue which holds a capacity of 17,000 and is expected to be filled to the rafters. Fulton will fight outside the U.S. for the first time in his eight-plus year pro career.

Philadelphia’s Fulton (21-0, 8KOs) has long called for blockbuster fights since his arrival on the title stage, specifically calling for showdowns with Inoue and fellow unified 122-pound titlist Murodjon ‘MJ’ Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8KOs) who holds the WBA/IBF belts. Both fighters have remained on his radar well after his most recent performance, when he dominated former WBA/IBF titlist Danny Roman over twelve one-sided rounds last June 4 in Minneapolis.

The win was the lone fight of 2022 for Fulton following a Fighter of the Year-level 2021 campaign that saw him dethrone a pair of unbeaten titlists. Fulton handily outpointed Angelo Leo to win the WBO junior featherweight title in January 2021, followed by a majority-decision win over then-unbeaten WBC titlist Brandon Figueroa in their November 2021 Fight of Year-worthy affair.

Fulton’s name resurfaced last November during the annual WBC convention, when it was revealed that a discussed rematch with Figueroa (24-1-1, 18KOs) would come with the interim WBC featherweight title at stake. The ruling allowed for a four-man tournament to be ordered at junior featherweight, with Azat Hovhannisyan-Luis Nery and Ra’eese Aleem-Alan David Picasso as the suggested semifinal eliminators.

Just one of three fights has transpired - Nery-Hovhannisyan, which remains the leading 2023 Fight of the Year candidate. Nery won via eleventh round knockout in their terrific February 18 DAZN-aired slugfest from Fox Theater in Pomona, California.

The possibility existed of a Fulton-Figueroa rematch but the bout was never finalized despite reports to the contrary erroneously stating it was set to headline a February 25 Showtime telecast. Instead, Fulton will remain put at junior featherweight where he will attempt his third overall title defense and second as the unified champion.

It comes immediately after Inoue (24-0, 21KOs) abdicated the bantamweight throne after making history for his native Japan. The longtime pound-for-pound entrant from Yokohama became the first Asian boxer to claim undisputed champion status in the multi-belt era following his eleventh-round knockout of England’s Paul Butler. Inoue entered their December 13 unification clash as the lineal/WBC/WBA bantamweight champion and left the ring with Butler’s WBO strap in tow.

Inoue’s previous appearance at Yokohama Arena produced perhaps the most iconic knockout of his storied career.

A 70-second blitzing of former bantamweight titlist Juan Carlos Payano was held in front of his adoring hometown faithful, which launched the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament. He won the bracket outright, dethroning unbeaten IBF tltlist Emmanuel Rodriguez in the May 2019 semifinal before claiming the WBA belt from Nonito Donaire in the first of their two fights at the famed Saitama (Japan) Super Arena in November 2019.

Inoue since fought twice in the U.S. before returning to Japan for each of his last three starts. Included in the bunch was his second-round knockout of Donaire in their rematch last June 7 at Saitama Super Arena, adding the WBC belt to his collection before ending Butler’s brief WBO reign in their historic December 13 clash in Tokyo.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Stephen Fulton, Naoya Inoue to scrap May 7 for WBC 122-lb belt

Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue will fight on May 7 in Yokohama, Japan, for Fulton's unified 122-pound championship, Inoue's American promoter, Top Rank, announced on Monday.

ESPN reported in January the sides struck a deal for a May bout that will be streamed that Sunday morning stateside on ESPN+.

Fulton, 28, is ESPN's No. 1 boxer at 122 pounds. Inoue, who is a major star in Japan, is ESPN's No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer.

Nicknamed "The Monster," Inoue unified all four 118-pound titles in December in Tokyo with an 11th-round KO of Paul Butler to capture the undisputed bantamweight championship.

Inoue, 29, announced in January that he would relinquish all four belts as he prepares to campaign at 122 pounds. A fight with Fulton will present an opportunity for Inoue to establish dominance in his new weight class right out of the gate.

Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) isn't simply the best fighter at 122 pounds; he's also one of the best regardless of weight.

Fulton, who hails from Philadelphia and has never fought outside of the United States, is promoted by PBC, while Inoue is co-promoted by Top Rank, two promotional companies that rarely do business with one another. However, Inoue's Japanese promoter, Mr. Honda, drives the direction of the three-division champion's career, especially when those fights are in Inoue's homeland.

Fulton told ESPN in June that he believed a fight with Inoue was "realistic" if Inoue moved up to 122 pounds in time.

"I don't shy away from big fights," Fulton said then. "A lot of people wanna see [me vs. Inoue]; a lot of people wanna talk about that as well.

Fulton and Brandon Figueroa were on a collision course for a rematch at 126 pounds after the WBC ordered the matchup in November for its interim featherweight title. Fulton scored a majority-decision victory over Figueroa when they met in one of the best action fights of 2021.

Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) is one of the most dynamic fighters in all of boxing, a fighter with blinding speed who uses angles, punch variety and ring IQ to make quick work out of top contenders. He was involved in ESPN's 2019 Fight of the Year when he pushed through a broken nose and fractured orbital to outpoint Nonito Donaire.

Inoue left no doubt in the rematch last June when he scored a second-round TKO of the future Hall of Famer.

Against Fulton, Inoue will certainly meet his biggest -- and toughest -- challenge to date. Fulton is a career-long 122-pounder who can box from both the inside and outside and often throws upward of 1,000 punches in his fights.

Inoue, meanwhile, began his career at 108 pounds. Generational talents like Inoue often aren't pushed to the brink until they continue to move up in weight.

"The real battle starts from here," Inoue said in January.

[margaret thatcher]

excellent match up, you can tell both dudes are really up for it by how fast it was made, although i think inoue vs murodjob is a funner match. i hope the winner fights hiim for the undisputed

hell i might actually go for fulton here, with his size and boxing skills he could have enough to offset inoue's firepower

[Cent0089]

Looking forward to this. No warm up fight in new division, going straight in with best in division. Fulton is a bad man, if he win it would not be an upset as everyone think. Still think Inoue will win this in later rounds

[lenny.boxing]

Inoue gets hit pretty clean pretty often. He fixed part of that problem, as we saw in the Butler fight. Butler isnt nearly on Fultons level but we´ve seen glimpses of inoues defense in that fight.
Fulton isnt a power puncher and the fight is closer to inoues than fultons weight, i could see fulton winning by countering inoues power punches and fighting inoue on the frontfoot.
Inoue will have more advantages here, fighting at home, near his weight and fighting someone who seemingly doesnt have the same amount of power.
Boxing is on the right path

[SendoTakeshi]

Fulton isnt a power puncher and the fight is closer to inoues than fultons weight

Is that the same guy who is about to fight in his fourth weight-class and also skipped one more weight-class?

Sunday sounds great btw. Don't have to take a day off anymore

[Ruthless-RKO]

UK fans get this during the daytime.

[Roars Like Me]

Fulton looks very decent to me, can really box. I'm not sold that the monster walks through him - especially as coming up in weight. Of course Inoue is great himself but not sure it's gonna go his way for a change.

[Mexi-Box]

Fulton looks very decent to me, can really box. I'm not sold that the monster walks through him - especially as coming up in weight. Of course Inoue is great himself but not sure it's gonna go his way for a change.

Dude took Donaire's shots. I wouldn't worry about Fulton hurting him.

[SendoTakeshi]

I hate my life.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[DrDuke]

Big fights, they are like this...

[Roars Like Me]

Fulton looks very decent to me, can really box. I'm not sold that the monster walks through him - especially as coming up in weight. Of course Inoue is great himself but not sure it's gonna go his way for a change.

Dude took Donaire's shots. I wouldn't worry about Fulton hurting him.

That wasn't the point I was making as not worried about that. As you brought up Donaire though, he boxed really well against Inoue in the first fight, close fight. So a young good boxer such as Fulton can wins on points, which was my point.

[Mexi-Box]

Fulton looks very decent to me, can really box. I'm not sold that the monster walks through him - especially as coming up in weight. Of course Inoue is great himself but not sure it's gonna go his way for a change.

Dude took Donaire's shots. I wouldn't worry about Fulton hurting him.

That wasn't the point I was making as not worried about that. As you brought up Donaire though, he boxed really well against Inoue in the first fight, close fight. So a young good boxer such as Fulton can wins on points, which was my point.

Weird, I didn't think Donaire/Inoue 1 fight was close. I think I gave Donaire like 2 or 3 rounds, IIRC.

[margaret thatcher]

donaire did a lot of facial damage to inoue and landed good shots, albeit inoue showed a good chin and didnt really seem bothered. i thought inoue won 8-9 rounds, although tbh it should've been a ko in the 11th but the ref did a botch job

fulton is much naturally bigger and a good boxer, pretty adaptable too. it's feasible to me that inoue's shots wont be nearly as damaging at 122 and that fulton can give him a tough time boxing and moving, but hopefully this fight actually happens is the issue now

[Roars Like Me]

114-113 on one scorecard but not quite that close I agree. I could go 5 rounds for Donaire maybe but scoring aside a decent test and his toughest fight so far... Thatch has at least acknowledged the fact that Fulton is decent and has a good chance and that much seems obvious

[SendoTakeshi]

Inoue won like 8-9 rounds when he fought Donaire the first time, even though he fought most of the fight with a broken face.
Admittedly, Donaire was the one who injured Inoue.
But Donaire could even bang at 126.

I'm certain Inoues power can transition to 122 and also 126.

[Mexi-Box]

Inoue won like 8-9 rounds when he fought Donaire the first time, even though he fought most of the fight with a broken face.
Admittedly, Donaire was the one who injured Inoue.
But Donaire could even bang at 126.

I'm certain Inoues power can transition to 122 and also 126.

Same here. Donaire hurt Vetyeka and Walters. Donaire held his power up to 126. I think Inoue will carry his power at 122. He's smaller than Donaire, though, so I'm unsure about 126.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I had Inoue 116-111 Donaire.

Have Donaire 4 rounds and I think it was generous to give him 4 rounds.