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Naoya Inoue Stops Stephen Fulton In 8th Round After Dominant Performance

Written by Tom Eaton on 25th July 2023.

Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue

Naoya Inoue passed his pound-for-pound number one acid test with flying colours to claim the WBC and WBO super-bantamweight world titles, with a dominant knockout win in the eighth-round of his clash with Stephen Fulton.

Fulton travelled to the challenger’s backyard to defend his unified super-bantamweight titles, against three-division world champion, Inoue, with the eyes of the boxing world fixated on Tokyo.

In his twentieth consecutive world title fight, Inoue looked comfortable from the opening bell, exploding as soon he was within distance of the American, banking the early rounds. ‘The Monster’ out-jabbed the champion, with his speed and combinations also causing trouble, bloodying the mouth of Fulton in the third.

The middle rounds were somewhat closer, with ‘Cool Boy Steph’ adjusting well to possibly edge the fifth round and scoring a notable right-hand in the seventh. However, in the eighth round, Inoue took control, scoring an emphatic knockdown with a straight-right followed by a left-hook.

A wounded Fulton bravely returned to his feet, but was helpless when tasked with an onslaught from the ‘Monster’. Inoue trapped him in the corner, unloading a vicious combination to get the finish and become unified champion.

The highlight of the undercard was the battle of the Olympians, as two-time gold medallist, Robeisy Ramirez (13-1) made the first defence of his WBO featherweight title, against 2012 bronze medallist, Satoshi Shimizu (12-1).

Despite a noticeable size differencel, ‘El Tren’ looked comfortable throughout, against the taller man, dropping Shimizu in the fifth round with an uppercut, before piling on the pressure and earning a TKO victory seconds later.

Rest Of Undercard

  • Kenta Kawakami (2-1-1) vs Takero Kitano (1-0) – Minimumweight – Kitano RD2 TKO
  • Ryosuke Nakamura (2-0) vs Kenta Yamakawa (2-0) – Featherweight – Yamakawa RD2 TKO
  • Yuki Kajitani (6-3) vs Masato Shinoda (5-1-1) – Super-Flyweight – Shinoda RD3 TKO
  • Chihiro Iwashita (6-0-1) vs Hiiroyuki Takahara (9-5) – Super-Featherweight – Iwashita RD4 TKO
  • Ronnie Baldonado (16-4-1) vs Yoshiki Takei (6-0) – Super-Bantamweight – Takei RD3 KO
  • Hebi Marapu (18-1-1) vs Taiga Imanaga (3-0) – Super-Lightweight – Imanaga SD
  • Kanamu Sakama (7-0) vs Ryu Horikawa (3-1-2) – Japanese Light-Flyweight Title – Sakama RD8 TKO