Aurelio Martinez, InsideBoxing.com
aurelio@insideboxing.com
DENVER (July 24, 2023) – I have high expectations for tomorrow’s WBC/WBO World Super Bantamweight Championship contest between World Champions Naoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton. Inoue is the current WBC/WBO world Bantamweight champion and will be moving up in weight to challenge WBC/WBO world super bantamweight champion for his titles.
Inoue is considered by many as the top brass of the bantam division and top of the list of the fictitious Pound-4-Pound list, while Fulton is the top dog in the super-bantam division. With both boxers being undefeated and at the top of their game, expect these bantamweights to give big bore results! Inoue is undefeated in 24 contests with 21 victories by knock-outs, Fulton is also undefeated with a record of 21 wins with 8 knock-outs.
While the odds favor Inoue, take nothing away from Fulton, while Inoue’s KO ratio supersedes that of Fulton, keep in mind, they were all at a lower weight. The question is will Inoue’s power carry into the Super Bantam division, and will Inoue be able to take the power shots from a naturally bigger fighter? Should the fight be close, will the old adage of “you have to take the title from the champion” play a part in the judges scoring?
An interesting fact I found when analyzing this fight, was Inoue has never fought an opponent with a losing record, this is unheard of in today’s boxing scene. However, make no mistake, Inoue will have his hands full tomorrow.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this contest, it’s going to be a good one! If I had to pick a winner, it would be Inoue, but my money is on Fulton.
The fight Will be coming to you live from Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan tomorrow, Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at 4:30 a.m. ET on ESPN+ in the United States.
