Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue is a modern pound-for-pound great, having ruled in four weight divisions and maintained his undefeated record. As he closes out his phenomenal career, fans have wondered how high he is willing to go.
Inoue won his first WBC world title in just his sixth professional contest, knocking out Adrian Hernandez in round six of their battle down at 108lbs over a decade ago, then defending the belt against Wittawas Basapean five months later.
In December 2014, Inoue moved up to the super-flyweight division and needed just two rounds to halt Omar Andres Narvaez to claim the WBO crown upon his 115lb debut, registering seven title defences before advancing to bantamweight.
At bantamweight, Inoue began to gain global recognition, with two triumphs over the legendary Nonito Donaire forcing the world of boxing to begin to take notice, before capturing the undisputed crown and moving up once more.
As a super-bantamweight, Inoue required only two fights to replicate that feat, knocking out unified champions Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales to become a two-weight undisputed ruler and claim the 2023 Fighter of the Year award.
‘The Monster’ has remained at 122lbs ever since, defending all four titles on six occasions, but next month he faces his toughest test yet, tasked with countryman Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome in a fight that has him ‘motivated’.
Speaking on a TikTok live stream ahead of that event, Inoue revealed that he will max out at featherweight, with plans to move up to 126lbs in two fights’ time, as per Yahoo Japan.
“I think featherweight will be my final challenge. After the Nakatani fight, and one other fight I’ve wanted to do, my last challenge will be in featherweight.
“I’m not going to move up right away, so I’d like to decide [a fight] with the [featherweight] champion at that time.”
Though the landscape could change, the champions at featherweight are currently Brandon Figueroa, Bruce Carrington, Angelo Leo and Rafael Espinoza, with Carrington particularly keen on the fight with Inoue.
