Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue, undisputed champion of the super bantamweight category, explained this Wednesday that he had to dismiss the South Korean Kim Ye-joon in a manner on Friday in Tokyo, in order to export his talent for clashes more remunerative.
At 31 years old, “Monster“, who has a record of 28 victories in as many fights, including 25 by knockout, wishes to open up to new markets in order to also benefit from the very generous financial windfall brought by Saudi Arabia to the world of the noble art for five years.
Very popular in his country, Inoue signed a sponsorship contract in 2024 with Riyadh Seasonthe Saudi promotional body, and, as part of this agreement, he is expected to return to the ring in Las Vegas as early as April, with a potential fight in Saudi Arabia later in the year.
“This year I will have fights in the United States and then in Saudi Arabia, so this fight in two days is very important for me“, indicated Inouebefore facing Kim (21 wins, two draws and two defeats), who replaced the Australian at short notice Sam Goodmanpackage.
“I hope my contract with Riyadh will accelerate my boxing career. Even if my opponent changes, what I have to do doesn’t change. I just need to get a result“, underlined the older brother of Takoma Inoue.
And Inoue has already fought twice in Las Vegas, in 2020 and 2021, to defend his IBF bantamweight belt, he had not then received a scholarship commensurate with his immense talent.
-The Nippon unified the bantamweight category in 2022, before doing the same in the super bantamweight category the following year, which earned him the title of boxer of the year 2023 by Ring Magazine.
The legendary promoter Bob Arum revealed that discussions were underway for Inoue to fight in “a large room in Las Vegas” This year.
“Naoya is the face of boxing, so when you can bring the face of boxing to your country, that’s a huge thing“, said Arum.
“Everyone in the United States, everyone who is interested in boxing, is interested in Inoue coming to the United States to fight“, assured the boss of Top Rankaged 93.
