Naoya Inoue has been called out by an unbeaten fighter after he knocked out Luis Nery in his latest contest.
He came through an early scare in the fight that saw him put down for the first time in his career during the first round, but he rallied and came back as he always does to win by knock out in front of a capacity 55,000 person crowd at the Tokyo Dome, 34 years after Mike Tyson was in the same venue by losing to Buster Douglas.
Inoue wasted no time getting back in the fight and by round two he was already on top and managed to put Mexican Nery down with a left hook of his own. By round four, Inoue was in the groove and taunting Nery and in the fifth round he was floored once more by another punishing left hook.
The end came in round six when Inoue put Nery down for the final time and improved his record to 27-0 with 24 of those wins coming by knockout. He remains many people’s top pound-for-pound star with the victory which showed he can come back from adversity.
In the immediate aftermath to the fight, his next challenger Sam Goodman jumped into the ring, took the mic and made his call out in a video captured by Top Rank.
“Look I’ve been mandatory for over a year, either fight me or give up the belts, let’s get it on.”
Inoue was quick to respond.
“I would love to go into the negotiations to fight against Sam Goodman in September this year.”
The pair then shook hands so this fight could be next for Inoue, who is only the second many to hold undiluted status in two separate weight divisions.
Goodman later spoke to Main Events to claim he has seen enough to think he can win what will be a big step up, with Inoue’s early knockdown no doubt part of what gave him such confidence.
“Look, I’ve seen enough in the fight to know I can do what I need to do to win that fight. It’s a massive opportunity for me. It’s something very exciting and I’ve been saying it for how long, I want world titles.”
Goodman is one option for Inoue, although some people have called for him to move to featherweight for his next challenge.
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