It’s about time, US fight fans have said, and are saying. Japanese superstar, Naoya Inoue, will at last return to America to fight, this in “early next year.” So said Bob Arum, this just after “The Monster” had terrorised yet another foe, the latest victim being a game but outgunned (aren’t they all) TJ Doheny.
Inoue has not boxed in the US since June of 2021, and one of the knocks on Inoue – a fighter who is, to all rational and agenda-free individuals, an almost perfect fighting machine – is the claim that he has “stayed at home to fight.”
Well, Inoue is a rock star in Japan, so who can blame him for regularly playing in front of sell-out crowds? Another seemingly pathetic criticism of Inoue, largely by the same folks who seem almost desperate to see “The Monster” lose, is one that says he has not yet but MUST go up to featherweight or beyond.
Why is a good question? Inoue, after all, won his first world title (in just his sixth pro bout) down, way down, at light flyweight. Yet on the banging drum goes: Inoue “has to fight Tank Davies.”
And these likeminded people scream and holler how Tank would “destroy” Inoue. Maybe so, Tank is of course a man who has won a title up at 140 pounds!
Back to the real world, and forgetting the “haters” (a term I, well, please pardon the pun, hate to use) – who might Inoue fight in his “celebration,” as Arum stated, Inoue’s Vegas fight in 2025 will be? It seems it will be mandatory against Sam Goodman next, in December, in Tokyo. But then who?
You know what? It doesn’t really matter. Inoue has now reached the status, the privileged status that only the special ones reach, where they can pretty much fight anyone, and nothing but a huge crowd will show up. Think Ali, think Tyson, think Mayweather.
Inoue is now in that small group. Sure, Inoue still has to perform, and to a degree, he has to take on a seemingly testing challenger, but Inoue has earned the luxury of taking a fight or fights he knows he will absolutely win.
That said, there are a few possible big-fight tests for Inoue in what will be his third outing in Vegas.
That move to 126 may well come at a time and a place that Inoue sees fit, but there will very probably be more fights at 122 pounds first.
Three guys who could face Inoue in Vegas in, perhaps, April or May of 2025:
Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
Inoue’s next mandatory, former champ Akhmadaliev, has dared to say Inoue is afraid to fight him. This match-up would be a real treat for US fans.
Junto Nakatani.
When Arum said “celebration,” did he perhaps mean a celebration of all things great in Japan? No doubt, Inoue and current WBC bantamweight champ Nakatani are both great, and so many of us crave seeing them duke it out. But this fight, perhaps the biggest ever in Japanese boxing history, belongs at home? Or has Arum got other unexpected plans?
That move up to featherweight.
Might Inoue make his next move up the weight divisions in Vegas? Maybe, and against any of the current champions at 126 pounds, Inoue would be making one heck of a return to Sin City.
In short, whoever Inoue fights, this in his next fight and in his fight after that, all of us who appreciate his power, his skill, his IQ, and his sheer approach will be making darn sure we tune in.
Inoue IS the best fighter on the planet today. If you disagree, give us all one – just one – weakness you have detected in “The Monster’s” game to prove otherwise.
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