Stephen Fulton vs Naoya Inoue – Results & Post-Fight Report

Naoya Inoue continued his path of destruction in Tokyo, Japan, as he took the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles with a ruthless eighth round stoppage of Stephen Fulton.

Inoue was attempting to become world champion in a fourth weight class, and after cleaning out the bantamweight division by becoming undisputed champion in his last contest, an eleventh round knockout of Paul Butler to take the WBO crown, he turned his focus to Fulton and a move up in weight. The Philadelphian came in as the number one at super bantamweight, as a unified world champion, last defending with a wide points win against Daniel Roman last June.

Fulton (21-1, KO8) began in centre ring, but Inoue met him there, working off a strong jab in the opening round. The jab was a potent weapon for Inoue (25-0, KO22) in the second too, as he winged in spiteful shots in combinations that the American was struggling to deal with. The home fighter’s speed was frightening in the early going, and although Fulton did connect in round three, the volume of punches and speed of ’The Monster’ was causing him all sorts of problems, bloodying the champion’s nose during the session. Inoue was simply beating Fulton to the punch, and by halfway, he was in a dominant mood, going through the gears with Fulton powerless to stop the onslaught. The ending came in the eighth, when Inoue unleashed a massive overhand right hand that floored the American heavily, and a two-fisted assault on the resumption brought a stoppage from the referee.

Cuban starlet Robeisy Ramirez (13-1, KO8) defended his WBO featherweight title for the first time, as he ruthlessly stopped Satoshi Shimizu (11-2, KO10) in the fifth round of their meeting.

The early going was contested mainly in the pocket, with double Olympic champion Ramirez happy and comfortable to be taking the shots from Shimizu, and paying the home fighter back with interest. Ramirez poured on the pressure in the fourth, and an accumulation of punches in the fifth, with a brutal uppercut the highlight, dropped Shimizu heavily, and although he beat the count, a follow-up onslaught forced the referee to intervene.

Kanamu Sakama (8-0, KO7) scored another early win, but had to wait until the eighth and final round to see off Ryu Horikawa (3-2-2, KO1) and take take the vacant Japanese Youth light flyweight title.

Yoshiki Takei (7-0, KO7) remained perfect, as a body shot crumpled Ronnie Baldonado (16-5-1, KO9) in the third of a scheduled eight at super bantamweight.

At super lightweight, Taiga Imanaga (4-0, KO3) had to go the distance for the first time, as he took a split decision against Hebi Marapu (18-2-1, KO13). A bizarre score of 76-75 for Marapu was overruled by scores of 80-72 and 77-74 for Imanaga.

Chihiro Iwashita (7-0-1, KO4) stayed unbeaten, as the super featherweight stopped Hiroyuki Takahara (9-6, KO6) in four rounds of a scheduled eight, and the sole six rounder came at super flyweight, where Masato Shinoda (6-1-1, KO5) halted Yuki Kajitani (6-4, KO5) in the third.

In four rounders, Kenta Yamakawa (3-0, KO1) stopped Ryosuke Nakamura (2-1, KO2) in the second at featherweight, and Takero Kitano (2-0, KO1) halted Kenta Kawakami (2-2-1, KO0) in the same round at minimum weight.