Naoya Inoue eyes next challenge after beating Paul Butler
Japan’s Naoya Inoue attends a press conference after beating Britain’s Paul Butler in his bantamweight title unification match in Tokyo on December 13, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
Japan’s Naoya Inoue said he had not yet reached his “goal” after becoming the first undisputed bantamweight world champion in half a century Tuesday with a knock-out win over England’s Paul Butler.
The unbeaten Inoue, nicknamed “Monster”, had to work hard to grind down a defensive Butler in Tokyo but finally dropped him to the canvas with a flurry of shots in the 11th round.
The win saw Inoue achieve his long-held ambition of becoming the first undisputed bantamweight world champion since Panama’s Enrique Pinder in 1972, adding Butler’s WBO title to his own WBC, WBA and IBF belts.
But he warned that his rampage through the boxing world was not finished yet and that he will review his options before making his next move.
“This is not the goal,” said the 29-year-old Inoue, who is widely expected to make the step up to the super-bantamweight division.
“Tonight was something great to see with the fans from where I was standing in the ring, but this is just a point along the way.
“Do I feel satisfied? I am satisfied but I want to turn my mind to what comes next.”
UNDISPUTED.
POUND FOR POUND NO. 1️⃣
All hail @NaoyaInoue_410 🇯🇵👑#InoueButler pic.twitter.com/rPFdeKZy2k
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
Inoue becomes only the ninth undisputed world champion since the four-belt era began in 2004, and the first in the bantamweight division.
He took his record to 24-0, with 21 knock-outs, after finally managing to put away underdog Butler, who was fighting away from home for the first time.
Inoue started the bout in characteristically ferocious fashion, landing several big shots in the opening round.
He continued to punish Butler in the early stages but the Englishman held firm and refused to emerge from his defensive shell.
Super challenge
Japan’s Naoya Inoue (R) and Britain’s Paul Butler fight during their bantamweight title unification match in Tokyo on December 13, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
Inoue grew frustrated by Butler’s approach and praised his opponent afterwards for his “thorough game plan”.
“He tried to get through the first half and then make it a contest from the middle of the fight onwards,” said Inoue.
“I expected that but he had a good plan to stop me. I had to change my own style and try to coax him out.”
Inoue finally broke down Butler’s resistance with a juddering body shot in the 11th, then made sure he went down with a volley of punches.
Butler paid tribute to Inoue as a “very, very good fighter” and acknowledged that he “fell just short”.
“You can see the punches coming but sometimes you can’t react quick enough to get out of the way, because he is that fast,” said Butler, whose record dropped to 34-3.
“That’s what really good fighters do — they have good timing, good accuracy and good speed, and sometimes you just can’t get out of the way of that.”
Inoue said he had “no real impression” of Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Ahkmadaliev and American Stephen Fulton — two champions in the super-bantamweight division.
He said he would take time to decide whether to move up to their weight class but Butler warned that he would need to improve to succeed at that level.
“He’s quite ignorant in his defense,” Butler said of Inoue, who became the first Japanese boxer to top Ring Magazine’s prestigious pound-for-pound rankings as the best fighter across all weight divisions earlier this year.
“He knows he’s got punching power and he knows he’s got a good chin himself.
“Maybe when he goes up the weights, not that he’ll come unstuck but I think he’ll have a little bit more to think about.”
