Naoya Inoue has become familiar with making history for his native Japan.
A supreme skillset—arguably the most talented fighter in the sport—has greatly enabled his pound-for-pound rise. Inoue freely admits, however, the recent run he’s enjoyed to repeatedly etch his name into the record books has come with its fair share of luck.
Case in point, the opportunity to face the Philippines’ Marlon Tapales (37-3, 19KOs) for the undisputed junior featherweight crown this coming Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
“It was a bit coincidental that we were able to land these significant fights one after the other,” Inoue told BoxingScene.com. “After this fight and assuming we win, it might be a while before we have that much at stake.”
Tuesday will mark the eighth straight for Inoue (25-0, 22KOs)—a four-division champ and high-ranking pound-for-pound entrant—with more than one title at stake.
The brilliant run began with his November 2019 points victory over Nonito Donaire to unify the WBA and IBF bantamweight titles and win the World Boxing Super Series tournament in the process. The combination of the global pandemic and sanctioning body mandatory title defense obligations left him with routine challenges over a two-year period.
His march towards history began last June, when he was able to further unify the division in a repeat win over Donaire—this time by second-round knockout to add the WBC strap to his collection. Inoue added the WBO title in an eleventh-round knockout of England’s Paul Butler last December to become the first Asian boxer to claim undisputed championship status in more than 50 years, and the only to do so in the three- or four-belt era.
Inoue’s win over Butler also took place at Ariake Arena, which hosted his sensational and one-sided eighth-round knockout of unbeaten WBC/WBO 122-pound champ Stephen Fulton. The July 25 clash saw Inoue become Japan’s first-ever boxer to enjoy unified title status in two separate weight divisions. A win on Tuesday will see him become a two-division undisputed champion quicker than any other boxer in the multi-belt era, as he will have done so in just 54 weeks’ time.
The path to full unification became a reality when Tapales dethroned previously unbeaten WBA/IBF titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev in April.
Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9KOs) fought infrequently enough during his three-year reign to where he was constantly burdened with mandatory title defenses. Tapales was the number-one ranked IBF challenger in waiting ahead of his upset win, immediately after which he called for a fight versus Inoue. The 31-year-old Filipino even flew to Tokyo to join Inoue in the ring after his knockout win over Fulton to welcome an undisputed clash.
An agreement reached earlier this fall provided Inoue with the chance for an historic achievement for his third straight fight. Even with a win on Tuesday, it will likely mark the end of a record-breaking stretch, as he plans to stick around at junior featherweight through at least next year.
“I would like to one day become a five-division champion but for now the goal is to become undisputed champion and defend my titles,” noted Inoue. “My plan is to still be in meaningful fights, but it will be defending the undisputed championship rather than fighting for it like we have next.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox