Even Floyd Mayweather has been forced to take notice of what Naoya Inoue has been doing as of late. The Japanese star has gone from weight class to weight class dominating the best of the very best. After pilfering every world title at 118 pounds, he brazenly decided to make the jump to the super bantamweight division. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
Although he could have opted for a soft touch, Inoue saw no point in doing so. With his eyes fixated on another undisputed run, Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) decided that Stephen Fulton would make the perfect opponent. Just a few short days ago, on July 25th, the 30-year-old cut through the normally slick defense of the Philly star, dropping and stopping him in the eighth round.
Mayweather, from his palatial estate, has officially seen enough. Inoue, from his point of view, is a terrific talent. However, the Hall of Famer would love to see him make his mark stateside and undergo stringent PED testing.
“I think he’s a helluva fighter,” Mayweather told FightHype.com. “But I need him to fight in the U.S. and random blood and urine testing.”
While he’s somewhat of a hometown hero fighting in Japan, Inoue has fought in the U.S. on three separate occasions, all of which resulted in stoppage victories. With just two super bantamweight titles remaining out of his possession, Inoue is hoping to complete his undisputed mission by year’s end.
If he’s successful, the natural progression for Inoue would be to look for another worthy adversary. But before he goes sifting for a challenge, Mayweather believes he has the perfect foe, Gervonta Davis.
Of course, when last seen, the 28-year-old was entertaining a jam-packed Vegas crowd with a knockout victory over Ryan Garcia. A matchup between Inoue and Davis might be mouthwatering to Mayweather but the difference in weight makes their clash a difficult one to put together. Still, with 13 pounds separating them, Mayweather doesn’t believe that Inoue will be required to move up an additional three weight classes. Instead, both Davis and Inoue could simply work things out and come to a fair agreement.
“What I would like to see is if he can fight Gervonta at a catchweight. That would be a helluva fight.”