Boxing has finally delivered and produced a year of fights, making 2023 one of the best in history. On Tuesday morning here in the U.S. and live on ESPN+, unified super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton Jr. (21-0, 8 KOs) will defend his titles against ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs). This is a huge fight that everyone is highly anticipating. Will we get a new pound-for-pound entrant in Fulton Jr., or will ‘The Monster’ Inoue continue his dominance?
WILL TUESDAY BE THE MOMENT STEPHEN FULTON JR. CATAPULTS HIMSELF INTO THE TOP FIVE P4P?
Fulton Jr. has been waiting a long time for this moment, and it is finally here. He has grinded his way to the top of the division after beating one undefeated fighter after the other. The problem is that although boxing fans love being entertained by the smaller weight classes, it’s not for everyone, and they don’t get as much exposure as they should. Enter Fulton Jr., a world-class fighter in his own right. He went after the biggest names in the division and did not shy away from them or make them wait an extended period of time. At the start of the year, the discussion was that Fulton Jr. would face Brandon Figueroa at flyweight, but that rumor wasn’t received too well. Fans felt that Fulton Jr. was avoiding the inevitable move up from Inoue in a fight that would be risky but rewarding as well.
At the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Hector Luis Garcia fight, I ran into Fulton Jr. and asked him about the Figueroa fight, to which he replied with a standard answer of we’ll see. But when I mentioned maybe bypassing Figueroa and sticking around for the Inoue fight, he looked up, smiled with his diamond-flooded grill, and went on his way. At that moment, I knew that it was the fight he wanted and had been preparing for since.
What does he have to do to win? Avoid getting into lengthy exchanges with Inoue at a close distance. Fulton Jr. must be smart, as he was against Danny Roman while using his feet and ring awareness to avoid getting clipped. He must also find a way to counter when Inoue lunges and use the overhand right in spots. Being smart defensively will be key, and Fulton Jr. has to keep his hands up. He is more than capable of doing all of this and coming out victorious in Japan if he stays disciplined. A victory can quickly place him in the top five pound-for-pound list, so seeing how this fight plays out will be interesting.
CAN ‘THE MONSTER’ REIGN SUPREME AT 122 LBS?
あ と ２ 日
— 井上尚弥 Naoya Inoue (@naoyainoue_410) July 23, 2023
#👑👑 pic.twitter.com/se5izwXibL
Despite everything being said online as of late, let’s not forget that Inoue is one of the top fighters in the sport. He has dominated division after division with his thudding power shots, which have left fighters staring up at the lights. The one thing that fans need to be reminded about is the weight jump from bantamweight to super bantamweight, which is four pounds. That may not seem like a lot to those other weight classes, but those few pounds can make all the difference when talking about the smaller fighters. Inoue is a special fighter and was big for his weight classes as he competed in them, but moving up against a champion that has been there for a while isn’t going to be easy.
With Fulton Jr., Inoue will have to do his best to land those body shots often and early to slow him down. This will give him the opportunity he is looking for later in the fight, but may be down in the scorecards leading up to it. If Inoue wins on Tuesday, the debate of whether he is that good will end. Can he rule at super bantamweight? It will be hard, but it starts with Tuesday’s fight, which isn’t easy to win.
STEPHEN FULTON JR. VS. NAOYA INOUE PREDICTION
Although the betting odds favor the Japanese pound-for-pound fighter, Inoue, it will be a tough fight for him at the super bantamweight division. Fulton Jr. will be smart enough on Tuesday morning to avoid Inoue’s big shots and come away with the decision victory.
STEPHEN FULTON JR. VS. NAOYA INOUE BETTING ODDS
Per BetOnline.ag, Naoya Inoue is the favorite at -400 (Under 10 ½ rounds -105), and the champion Stephen Fulton Jr. is the underdog at +320 (Over 10 ½ rounds -125).
STEPHEN FULTON JR. VS. NAOYA INOUE FIGHT DATE, START TIME
- Date: Tuesday, July 25
- Time: 4:30 a.m. ET / 1:30 a.m. PT
- Main event ringwalks (approx): 7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT
These timings could change due to the length of the undercard fights.
The men in the arena 😤
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 22, 2023
📸 Naoki Fukuda pic.twitter.com/P6b47rQs9C
WHAT CHANNEL/STREAM IS STEPHEN FULTON JR. VS. NAOYA INOUE?
- U.S.: ESPN+
- UK: Sky Sports
STEPHEN FULTON JR. VS. NAOYA INOUE FIGHT CARD
- Stephen Fulton Jr. vs. Naoya Inoue for the WBC and WBO super-bantamweight titles
- Robeisy Ramirez vs. Satoshi Shimizu for the WBO featherweight title
- Chihiro Iwashita vs. Hiroyuki Takahara; super-featherweight
- Kanamu Sakama vs. Ryu Horikawa; super-flyweight
- Taiga Imanaga vs. Hebi Marapu; lightweight
- Yoshiki Takei vs. Ronnie Baldonado; super-bantamweight
- Yuki Kajitani vs. Masato Shinoda; super-flyweight
- Kenta Yamakawa vs. Ryosuke Nakamura; featherweight
- Takero Kitano vs. Kenta Kawakami; featherweight
