Naoya Inoue currently holds four world bantamweight champion belts. While he successively won the WBA, IBF, and WBC titles in the weight category of less than 53.525kg, “The Monster” once again struck this Tuesday in front of his home crowd at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
4 Bantamweight Belts Around Inoue’s Waist!
The Japanese demolisher becomes the ninth boxer, all categories combined, to hold the four belts since the beginning of their common existence in 2004.
He follows in the footsteps of Bernard Hopkins (middleweight), Jermain Taylor (middleweight), Terence Crawford (welterweight), Oleksandr Usyk (light-heavyweight), Josh Taylor (welterweight), Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (super-middleweight), Jermell Charlo (super-welterweight) and Devin Haney (lightweight).
Undefeated in 23 fights, including 20 knockouts, Naoya Inoue faced Paul Butler in a unification fight of the four world belts. The Englishman, a.k.a “Baby Faced Assassin,” had the WBO title since April 22.
UNDISPUTED.
POUND FOR POUND NO. 1️⃣
All hail @NaoyaInoue_410 ???#InoueButler pic.twitter.com/rPFdeKZy2k
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
Butler, almost constantly on the defensive, ended despite his courage and tenacity by falling under the repeated blows of the Japanese in the middle of the 11th round. He conceded his first fight outside his country, which led to his third defeat amidst 34 victories.
“Having all four belts will prove that I am the number one bantamweight. So, for me, this belt is very necessary,”
Inoue shared his thoughts before fight night.
“When I have all four belts, then I will decide what comes next, whether that means moving up to super bantamweight or whatever.”
Inoue Plans Moving UP a Division
Raining blows, “The Monster” ended up making his opponent give in. In the eleventh of twelve rounds, Naoya Inoue knocked Paul Butler out. He thus adds the 24th victory to his record and remains undefeated in his career.
4団体制覇 #???? やりました！
数多くの方々にサポート頂き実現したこの試合で見た景色は最高でした。。
みんな本当にありがとう！！
少しゆっくり休んでまた頑張ります！ pic.twitter.com/1tUoGycdDO— 井上尚弥 Naoya Inoue (@naoyainoue_410) December 13, 2022
In a category that he considers “not easy,” the Japanese admitted that he achieved his goal after the fight.
“I finally became the undisputed bantamweight world champion,”
Inoue said through a translator.
“It has been very challenging for me to come this far. On this date, December 13, I made it so this is the greatest day [of my career].”
“I am honored to become unified world champion in the bantamweight division, but it was my last fight at this weight,”
said Naoya Inoue. He further added,
“I’m excited to see what awaits me in the super bantamweight division.”
It’s a category in which the native of Zama will aim to lock horns with the Uzbek Murodjon Akhmadaliev and the American Stephen Fulton, who share the four world champion belts.
Inoue vs Butler Bout Round-by-Round Coverage
Round 1: Naoya Inoue sets the tone early. The home fighter jumps right away on the front foot, letting the Brit feel his power to both head and body. He seamlessly displays his agility, variety, and accuracy in the opening round.
Butler quickly goes on the defensive, as widely expected. But he has unwisely already eaten some big shots from the Japanese ‘Monster.’ It includes a left hook up top and a spearing left to the body.
Inoue is jabbing to the body a lot to open his counterpart up, who is tucking up and defending well to start with.
Round 2: Inoue continues to stalk his opponent and attack the body. He backs him up against the ropes twice and unleashes a flurry of violent blows.
“Baby Faced Assassin” Butler manages to land his own shot inside, but he’s struggling to put any offensive together under such high pressure.
29-year-old three-weight world champion Inoue is cutting off the space so well here, trapping his opponent and then unleashing measured, stinging attacks to both head and body.
That bodywork ?#InoueButler | @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/PcYzDoD78g
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
What Butler needs to do is stay away from the ropes. But Inoue doesn’t simply let him, as he unloads yet another furious combination before the bell sounds in the second.
Round 3: With the third round opening, Inoue instantly traps Butler in the corner. He proceeds to batter the Brit with another barrage of thundering blows, amply loaded with some vicious right hands. The sound of every shot Inoue throws is thumping, even when caught on the gloves.
Butler looks slightly brighter in this round as he tries to let his hands go for the first time. But doing so comes at significant risk against a pound-for-pound KO artist, who finishes the round strongly.
Round 4: Trainer Joe Gallagher urges his bantamweight contender to show some swagger, but that’s not easy to do against such formidable opposition.
Inoue is walking Butler down all the time, completely controlling this one-sided contest and scoring punishing blows with both hands.
Butler is still hanging in there despite being dominated so badly. While he keeps his guard raised to avoid a knockout blow, Inoue is having no difficulty penetrating his defense.
He soon becomes trapped in the corner again, taking heavy punishment as Inoue lands more spiteful flurries.
Round 5: Inoue slightly takes his foot off the gas in the fifth and adopts a more measured approach. Now he waits for opportunities to punish Butler with one big blow.
Inoue continues throwing punches in bunches, but Butler takes most of them on the gloves, just staying busy and backed up.
Butler is aiming to keep away as much as possible. His game plan must be to survive the opening rounds, where Inoue will expend more energy than him, then look to come on strong from the mid-rounds, but how likely is that going to work?
Round 6: Inoue wants Butler to start trading so he can find his knockout punch. It’s beginning to look like a glorified sparring session for Inoue. However, Butler’s evasive tactics and high guard are frustrating for him.
.@NaoyaInoue_410's having fun in there ?#InourButler x @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/aeGCIHMzfX
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
Inoue starts playing to the crowd a bit, completely comfortable in there. He even switches to southpaw in a bid to obliterate that high guard, but Butler doesn’t let lose his high guard and continues to survive.
Round 7: Still one-sided, Inoue looks pretty frustrated by a defensive, mobile opponent. You can tell he really wants to, but he just can’t finish with Butler, adamantly avoiding any engagement.
The unified champion is trying to entertain the crowd, but he cannot find the knockout finish despite his best efforts. The crowd loves an Ali shuffle and more of switching stances, though.
Inoue even throws his hands in exasperation, luring Butler to make a fight of this. But all this goes in vain with a tightly packed and highly defensive Butler.
The Briton doesn’t take the bait. It disappointingly becomes more evident that avoiding a stoppage here seems to be his only goal in the fight. Butler is currently 7-0 down on the cards but surviving anyhow.
Round 8: Another round unfolds in a similar pattern. Inoue is getting back to his bag of tricks, unloading so much at Butler to open him up, but all in vain.
The only success Butler is having is that he’s clearly getting under Inoue’s skin and making the Asian angry and impatient.
HANDS BEHIND THE BACK ?#InoueButler x @ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/jB4AnW6uJt
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
Inoue mimics Roy Jones by putting his hands by his sides and goading his unwilling opponent. But even this doesn’t deter Butler from his utterly defensive approach.
Butler does manage to fire in some body shots in this round. Could this be a glimpse of his game plan to come on strong in the championship rounds? There’s not much of the contest left to see this.
Round 9: Despite the slight success from the Brit in the eighth, it continues to be a one-sided show from Inoue. He’s effectively showing his agility, footwork, and variation.
Butler eats a big shot straight down the middle. Too many more of them, and it’s game over, and it’s over for him. Inoue looks like he could end this fight at any given time.
Round 10: A new round with a couple of signs that Butler might be getting more adventurous here as he lets his hands fly a couple of times. He seems to go for Inoue’s body, trying to drain Inoue’s energy, which has expended far more so far in this one-sided fight.
For UK fans, there’s a glimmer of hope. The fact of the matter is that Butler may be a resilient genius, but it’s a tiny glimmer.
Round 11: Rejuvenated from his performance in all previous rounds, Inoue steps on the gas at the start of this critical round. He looks desperate to keep his knockout streak intact… and he does!
Inoue paws out a jab to push Butler into the corner, then unleashes a sickening right hook to the body. It sounds as audibly brutal as it seems to the eye. Butler pivots to his left, but he’s hurt.
So, Inoue decides to unload a barrage of blows, beginning with a big one-two to Butler’s head, throwing him on the ropes, and he can’t get up again. It looks like it was the first right hand to the head that did the final damage to the brave Briton.
Referee Bence Kovacs counts him out at 1:09 of round 11. It took Inoue some time, but he got there eventually!
An unmatched achievement for arguably the best pound-for-pound bantamweight fighter in the world right now, Inoue makes history as the first undisputed bantamweight champion this century.
Keeping the Sportsmanship Alive, Inoue Thanks Butler
What Inoue does after grabbing the belt indicates he’s as great of a human being and sportsman as a boxer. He outright thanks Butler. He tells the press:
“Thanks to Butler for coming to Japan, I could not have done this without him, and I commend him. I anticipated a longer bout, and I was able to show you more, so I am happy. I am satisfied with boxing longer than usual today.”
Considering the magnitude of his achievement, he has every right to feel satisfied, doesn’t he?
Undercard Highlights and Results in Inoue vs Butler Fight Card
Though Inoue vs Butler remains the show-stealer, almost all undercard fights were equally thrilling. Here’s a brief glimpse of the results of the rest of the fights on the Inoue vs Butler fight card:
- Peter McGrail def. Hironori Miyake by TKO (R2) in Super Bantamweight bout
- Satoshi Shimizu def. Landy Cris Leon by RTD (R2) in Featherweight bout
- Takuma Inoue def. Jake Bornea by TKO (R8) in Featherweight bout
- Andy Hiraoka def. Min Ho Jung by TKO (R8) defending his WBO Asia Pacific Super Lightweight title
- Yoshiki Takei def. Bruno Tarimo by TKO (R11) defending his Takei’s OPBF Super Bantamweight title
With 2022 ending on such a strong note for boxing, we at RDX Sports believe 2023 will continue to enthrall all boxing fans worldwide. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope for a fabulous year for boxing ahead.
