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Stephen Fulton vs. Naoya Inoue Junior Featherweight Title
Showdown May 7
Naoya “Monster” Inoue conquered the bantamweight division.
He’s now moving up in weight to capture the biggest fish at
122 pounds.
Philadelphia’s WBC & WBO junior featherweight world
champion, Stephen Fulton, will defend his titles against
Japan’s pound-for-pound king Sunday, May 7, at Yokohama
Arena in Yokohama, Japan. The showdown pits two of the
world’s top fighters, as Inoue aims to become only the fifth
Asian boxer to win world titles in four weight classes.
Fulton-Inoue and undercard bouts will stream live and
exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ in a special early-morning
presentation.
Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) is 19-0 with 17 knockouts in world
title fights, a championship run that started in 2014 when
he knocked out Adrian Hernandez for the WBC light flyweight
world title. He went on to rule the junior bantamweight
division with seven title defenses, including a second-round
stoppage over Omar Narvaez. At bantamweight, Inoue became
the division’s first undisputed champion in a half-century,
stopping Emmanuel Rodriguez in two rounds to win the IBF
strap, outlasting Nonito Donaire in the 2019 Fight of the
Year to add the WBA belt, starching Donaire in the second
round of their June 2022 rematch to snatch the WBC title,
and stopping then-WBO champion Paul Butler in the 11th
round. Inoue vacated all four bantamweight titles to move up
four pounds for a shot at “Cool Boy Steph.”
Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) 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 junior
featherweight world title. Ten months later, he added the
WBC belt to his collection with a majority decision over
then-unbeaten Brandon Figueroa in one of the year’s most
action-packed championship showdowns. Fulton defended both
titles last June with a one-sided unanimous decision over
former unified world champion Daniel Roman. Fulton will
enter the Inoue bout, his first away from American soil,
coming off an 11-month layoff. The 28-year-old Fulton,
however, is the naturally bigger man, holding advantages in
height and reach.
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