Naoya Inoue becomes four-weight champion with brutal TKO win over super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton
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Updated 25/07/2023 at 14:35 GMT
Stephen Fulton came to Tokyo as the WBC and WBO champion at super bantamweight but he was unable to resist home fighter Naoya "The Monster" Inoue on Tuesday, with the Japanese boxer becoming a four-belt champion. Inoue delivered a relentless barrage of blows and drew blood as early as the third round, and kept going to stop the fight in the eighth.
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Naoya Inoue secured another knockout as he beat WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton in Japan on Tuesday.
Inoue had beaten Britain’s Paul Butler in December 2022 to become the undisputed bantamweight champion but he then decided to move up to 122lbs to challenge for more belts.
The Japanese fighter came into the match-up with 21 knockouts from 24 bouts, compared to eight from 21 for Fulton.
In the run-up to the fight there had been bad blood between the pair as the unified champion had complained about the regulations concerning gloves in Japan, with his opponent telling him to ignore his concerns.
Inoue started strongly with the home support behind him, and in the third round an uppercut had the champion bleeding, and in the fourth round a combination drew more blood.
In the fifth, Fulton came back into the fight and had Inoue reeling briefly with a sharp combination of his own.
Three rounds later, Fulton was on the canvas when Inoue continued to deal out the aggression, and when the American got back on his feet, he was almost immediately subjected to another barrage, and the referee had to wave off the contest, as Inoue became a four-division world champion.
Robeisy Ramirez made his first defence of his WBO featherweight strap in the preceding fight.
He faced Satoshi Shimizu but faced little problem against his challenger, as he went on the attack early.
A flurry of punches in the fifth round stopped the fight, but not before the Japanese fighter was sent to the canvas moments early with an uppercut that drew streams of blood from his nose.
Other champions at the wait Leigh Wood, Luis Alberto Lopez and Rey Vargas are potential next fights in a unification clash.
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