Naoya Inoue vs. Paul Butler, Yoshiki Takei vs. Bruno Tarimo & Andy Hiroaka vs. Min Ho Jung RBR.

I hesitated to comment because I don't want to sound like an old grouch, but that had to be one of the lamest showings in a championship fight that I've seen in a long time - might have to go back to Fury-Wlad.

Inoue did what he had to do and got the KO just like a future ATG should do. For those of you questioning Naoya's abilities by letting Butler survive so long, you have to remember that if a pro fighter (especially one that seems tough) fights only to survive, then they are extremely difficult for even the greatest punchers to get them out of there.

Monster is my #1 P4P right now, I think.

 

Beating Paul Butler is impressive now is it

 

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'Left it all in the ring'

 

The left hook which started Butler's downfall was a thing of beauty. Subtle rhythm and cadence shift right after that powerful right to the body. Opposite targets and broken anticipation if any.

 

Perhaps if i get the chance i will watch it, but having known whats happened makes any fight less appealing unless it is some kind of shock underdog win.

 

You're absolutely right. About time Inoue started fighting the calibre of 87-year-old Chisora, one-trick Wilder 3 times, Wallin (who should have lost to Soko), Schwarz or big bad Pianeta.

Shame on Inoue, he's a disgrace.

 

Just watched the fight and obviously it wasn't very hard for Inoue to win. Although in Butler's defense if you were in the ring against Inoue, wouldn't you run?

As for what's next for Inoue. Now with the WBO belt he can immediately challenge for the WBO Super Bantamweight belt and since it seems Fulton has departed to 126, here is the rankings for the WBO:

1 Aleem.
2 Nery.
3 Tete.
4 Hovhannisyan.
5 T.Inoue.

Nery and Hovhannisyan have been ordered to fight in an eliminator for the WBC title. Aleem has also been mandated to fight in an WBC semi-eliminator against some guy called Alan Picasso. Inoue can't fight his brother, so the only possible choice is Zolani Tete. However Tete is currently being investigated for potential PED usage in his fight against Cunningham. Hopefully the matter gets resolved, because I'm always wanted to see Inoue vs Tete.

Credit to Inoue for the great accomplishment. The first undisputed Japanese champion since Fighting Harada.

 

He did his best to be fair to him, said he had a plan to take the sting out the first four and grow into the fight. His punch output suggests this round by round but it got to a point where the skill gap was just too great and rather than lie down tried his best to endure it. He could have ducked the fight and even though he was outmatched by a special fighter he can be proud he agreed to the fight with no hesitation and as a result an undisputed 4 belt champion was made.

However unspectacular it was to watch it is exactly the type of fight most fight fans have been asking for. Undisputed, best vs the best, no politics, no ducking.

 

I enjoyed the fight. It showed Inoue's ability to change up offensive game plans on the fly. Inoue displayed some excellent defensive skills as well. The lighter side of Monster was also very fun to watch.

 

Naoya V Takuma! I'm all Inoue.

 

This.

Butler could have held the belt hostage and ask for a tune-up first. Or he could have been a real shithouse with negotiations. Nope. He didn't hesitate to run towards the smoke.

 

That smoke scared the living daylights out of him so bad that he was running around the ring like a chicken with his head cut off mayne. I think he thought he saw a Monster Come out from the smoke ya heard.

 

If you give me proof of what their weights were in the ring, I'll give in.

Weight bullies usually have problems making weight. One of the biggest weight bullies in boxing as you call him, is moving down. That doesn't happen.

Otherwise, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the kid who's able to move down a division; stated he rehydrated to 130, which less than what Rungvisai USUALLY rehydrated to, is smaller.

Video isn't even a good metric. Muscle fullness, fat %, bone density, etc can make someone look bigger or smaller at a given weight.

So this conversation is over until you show me proof of their in ring weights.

 

Although overall it wasn’t the fireworks, get the opponent out of there in a few rounds type of fight, I enjoyed it and can really see that Inoue IS the PFP king as of now.

Props to Butler and his team as well.