Unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue’s title defense against replacement opponent Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) is two days away, and there’s surprisingly zero buzz about this fight on Friday, January 24.
(Credit: Naoki Fakuda)
No buzz
It’s a signal that Japanese star, “Monster” Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs), needs to challenge himself by moving up to featherweight so he can start facing opposition that the rest of the world outside of his country of origin, Japan, cares. about.
Inoue is quite wealthy, fighting whoever he wants, and it’s possible he doesn’t care about taking risks at this point in his career. He had it easy, winning world titles in four divisions and facing no one riskier than 36-year-old Nonito Donaire. Inoue suffered a right orbital bone fracture and a broken nose in their first fight on November 7, 2019. You can only imagine what a young Donaire would have done to Inoue.
The event will be broadcast live on ESPN+ this Friday at 4:15 a.m. ET/1:15 a.m. PT from Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. Few American boxing fans will see this fight because they won’t want to get up early Friday to see what could be another mismatch for Inoue. One has to wonder what Top Rank thinks of this fight.
Inoue, 31, had to defend himself against his attorney Sam Goodmanbut he retired with an eye injury. It was just as dull a fight as Kim’s, and the fans weren’t interested in it.
Featherweight options
It’s unclear why Naoya stubbornly chooses to stay at 122 to fight the shadowy opposition rather than move to 126 to deal with these killers:
–Rafael Espinoza
– King Vargas
–Bruce Carrington
– Angelo Leo
–Nick Ball
–Brandon Figueroa
–Sulaiman Segawa
-Otabek Kholmatov
The answer is pretty obvious as to why Inoue chooses not to move up to featherweight. It’s too hard. You can argue that Naoya obviously doesn’t want to lose and see the bottom of his career fall apart. I can’t blame him because of the easy money coming in without Inoue taking any risks. I would probably do the same thing. It’s better than working for a living.
Don’t take any risk, get easy money and enjoy the filet mignon in gentle opposition for the next ten years before retiring. It’s weak, obviously, but it’s better than getting knocked out at featherweight against one of the killers.
