Unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue’s title defense against his substitute opponent Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) is two days away, and there is surprisingly zero buzz about this fight on Friday, January 24th.
(Credit: Naoki Fakuda)
No Buzz
It’s a signal that the 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 home country of Japan cares about.
Inoue is quite wealthy, fighting whomever he wants, and it’s possible that he doesn’t care to take risks at this point in his career. He’s had it easy, winning world titles in four divisions and not facing anyone risky other than 36-year-old Nonito Donaire. Inoue suffered a fractured right orbital bone and a broken nose in their first fight on November 7, 2019. You can only imagine what a younger Donaire would have done to Inoue.
The event will be streamed live on ESPN+ this Friday at 4:15 a.m. ET/1:15 a.m. PT from Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan. Few U.S. boxing fans will see this fight because they won’t want to get up early on Friday to watch what figures to be another mismatch for Inoue. You have to wonder what Top Rank thinks about this fight.
Inoue, 31, had been scheduled to defend against his mandatory Sam Goodman, but he pulled out with an eye injury. That was just as lackluster of a fight as the Kim one, and fans had no interest.
Featherweight Options
It’s unclear why Naoya stubbornly chooses to stay at 122 to fight the obscure opposition rather than move up to 126 to face these killers:
– Rafael Espinoza
– Rey 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 doesn’t want to lose, obviously, and see the bottom drop out of his career. I can’t blame him because of the easy money coming in without Inoue taking any risks. I’d probably do the same thing. It beats working for a living.
Take no risks, get the easy cash, and feast off the fillet mignon soft 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.
