In arguably the best boxing match of the year, undefeated unified Super bantamweight world champion Stephen Fulton of America defends his WBC and WBO Super-bantam titles against massively talented Naoye Inoue of Japan, a former three-division world champion. The elite matchup sees Naoye Inoue moving up to Super bantamweight for the first time in his career to fight for the world titles. The bout takes place in Japan on Tuesday at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
BOXING: WBC and WBO Super Bantamweight Championship
Venue: Ariake Arena, Tokyo
Where to watch: ESPN+/Skysports
Date: 25.07.2023. 13.00
Stephen Fulton
The 29-year-old Philadelphia native will fight outside of the USA for the first time when he flies to Japan to defend his titles. The 21-0 fighter was getting ready to rematch former WBC Super Bantamweight champion Brandon Figueroa before the opportunity to fight Inoue emerged. Turning pro in 2014, Stephen Fulton has speedily established himself as one of the elite boxers of this generation. Displaying great skill, technical finesse, and adeptness in the ring, "Cool Boy Steph" picked up the IBO Super bantamweight title in 2019 and followed it up with winning the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Super bantamweight scrap in 2020. A year later, Fulton scored a unanimous decision over Angelo Leo to claim the WBO Super Bantamweight title in January 2021. Stephen Fulton unified the Super bantamweight class when he scraped a majority decision over the then-WBC champion Brandon Figueroa in late 2021. With eight knockouts from twenty-one victories, the American champion is not known for raw power and has been taken the distance in his last four fights. Stephen Fulton's last fight was a successful defense of his boxing titles in June 2022 against Daniel Roman.
Tale of the Tape
- Age: 29
- Height: 5' 6.5″
- Reach: 70.5″
- Record: 21-0
I can look at [Inoue vs Fulton] and see if either guy has any faults. These two are the top, top guys in the division, and this is what we dream about as fighters, sharing the ring with fighters like that. That's going to be an unbelievable fight. These are the type of guys I want to share the ring with.
Naoya Inoue
Nicknamed "Monster," thirty-year-old Naoya Inoue is a boxing phenomenon with raw power in his hands, scoring a 88% knockout ratio. Ranked as the world's best active boxer pound-for-pound by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, Naoya Inoue became the first boxer in history to defeat all four major sanctioning organization champions by knockout when he stopped Paul Butler from winning the WBO bantamweight title last December and become the undisputed Bantamweight champion of the world. In January, "Monster" vacated his five Bantamweight titles to fight for the Super bantamweight crown. The Japanese won his last five fights by stoppages in a show of his punching power. Naoya Inoue's resume reads: three-division world champion and the former undisputed bantamweight world champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, Ring magazine titles between 2019 and January 2023, and the WBC and WBO titles between 2022 and January 2023. The undefeated boxer previously held the WBA (Regular) bantamweight title from 2018 to 2019, the WBO junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2018, and the WBC light-flyweight title in 2014.
Tale of the Tape
- Age: 30
- Height: 5' 5″
- Reach: 67″
- Record: 24-0
I could make this goal of becoming an undisputed world champion. Now, I'm considering going up to super bantamweight.
Betting Odds
Although Stephen Fulton is the Super bantamweight champion, his Japanese challenger Naoya Inoue is the massive favorite with the Sportsbooks. A win for Stephen Fulton is priced at 4.00 odds on Bet365, while Naoya Inoue to win is 1.25 on Bet365. Fulton to win by KO, TKO or DQ is available at 13.00 on 1XBET and a win by decision/technical decision is priced at 4.5 odds on 1XBET. Naoya Inoue to win by KO, TKO, or DQ is priced at 2.20 odds on Marathonbet, while by decision/technical decision is available at 3.20, also on Marathonbet.
