Naoya Inoue will challenge Stephen Fulton for the unified WBO and WBC super bantamweight world titles on May 7, live on sky sports.
After becoming the undisputed bantamweight champion, Japanese star Inoue, one of the most fearsome punchers in world boxing, is now moving up the division to take on an undefeated fellow Fulton from the United States.
Philadelphia’s Fulton puts his WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles on the line against the pound-for-pound king of Japan on Sunday, May 7 at Yokohama Arena, live on sky sports in the early afternoon (UK time).
Naoya Inoue is one of the most exciting fighters in world boxing (Associated Press)
The matchup pits two of the best boxers in the world against each other as Inoue aims to become 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 by knockout.
His championship run began in 2014 when he knocked out Adrián Hernández for the WBC world light flyweight title.
He went on to rule the super flyweight division with seven title defenses, including a second-round knockout of Omar Narváez.
At bantamweight, Inoue became the division’s first undisputed champion in half a century, stopping Emmanuel Rodriguez in two rounds to win the IBF belt, beating Nonito Donaire in a 2019 Fight of the Year to add the IBF belt. WBA, defeating Donaire in the second round. from their June 2022 rematch to wrest the WBC title from him and defeat then-WBO champion Paul Butler in round 11.
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 undefeated prospects in his first 12 bouts.
In January 2021, he defeated Angelo Leo to capture the WBO super bantamweight world title.
10 months later, he added the WBC belt to his collection with a majority decision over then-undefeated Brandon Figueroa in one of the most action-packed championship matchups of the year.
Fulton defended both titles last June with a one-sided unanimous decision over former unified world champion Daniel Roman.
