Naoya Inoue challenges Stephen Fulton for the unified 122-pound championship at Ariake Arena, Tokyo.
Initially, the unified WBC/WBO super bantamweight title fight was scheduled to take place on May 7, but it was postponed on July 25 due to an undisclosed injury suffered by Inoue during training.
His opponent, Fulton, competes for the first time outside of the United States throughout his eight-plus year pro career.
Since his emergence on the world stage, Philadelphia's Fulton has long advocated for blockbuster fights, notably with Inoue and fellow unified 122-pound titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who holds the WBA/IBF crowns. Both fighters have remained on his radar long after his most recent performance, in which he destroyed former WBA/IBF titlist Danny Roman over twelve one-sided rounds in Minneapolis on June 4th of 2022.
Previously, with his eleventh-round knockout of England’s Paul Butler, the long-time pound-for-pound competitor from Yokohama Nagoya Inoue became the first Asian boxer to gain indisputable champion status in the multi-belt era. Inoue entered their December 13 of 2022 unification fight as the lineal/WBC/WBA bantamweight champion and departed with Butler’s WBO belt.
In the co-main event, Robeisy Ramirez (12-1, 7 KOs), the WBO featherweight titleholder, makes his first defense against Satoshi Shimizu (11-1, 10 KOs).
Ramirez, a Cuban two-time Olympic gold medalist who recently ascended to No. 6 in ESPN’s featherweight rankings, won the vacant title in a unanimous decision against Isaac Dogboe earlier this month. He expressed his resolve to defend his title, saying, “Fighting is what I do best, titles are meant to be defended and there's no stopping ‘El Tren!’” On the other hand, 37-year-old Shimizu, an Olympic bronze medalist from Japan will be battling for a world title for the first time.
The main event fighters are expected to make their ringwalks at approximately 7 am ET.
Main card:
▪️Stephen Fulton vs. Naoya Inoue, 12 rounds, for Fulton’s WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles ▪️Robeisy Ramirez vs. Satoshi Shimizu, 12 rounds, for Ramirez’s WBO featherweight title ▪️Kanamu Sakama vs. Ryu Horikawa, 8 rounds, junior flyweight ▪️Yoshiki Takei vs. Ronnie Baldonado, 8 rounds, junior featherweight
Undercard:
▪️Chihiro Iwashita vs. Hiroyuki Takahara, 8 rounds, featherweight ▪️Taiga Imanaga vs. Hebi Marapu, 8 rounds, lightweight ▪️Yuki Kajitani vs. Masato Shinoda, 6 rounds, flyweight ▪️Kenta Yamakawa vs. Ryosuke Nakamura, 4 rounds, featherweight ▪️Takero Kitano vs. Kenta Kawakami, 4 rounds, minimumweight
Watch Fulton & Naoya making weight: Watch
