Stephen Fulton’s defence of his unified super bantamweight titles in Japan against ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue will depend on how the home fighter has his hands wrapped.
The tantalising scrap that will see Inoue move up in weight to face the also undefeated Fulton is set to take place on Tuesday July 25 Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, Tokyo under the Japan Boxing Commission.
Originally scheduled for May 7, the fight was rescheduled due to an injury on Inoue’s part. Fulton has now landed in Tokyo for the pre-event media duties.
Inoue is a knockout machine, often favouring sickening body shots, who has 21 stoppages from 24 fights – a marvel in the lower weight classes. Fulton is a slick operator who looks comfortable from all angles, and his defence has been compared to that of Floyd Mayweather’s.
Fulton’s trainer, Wahid Rahim, threw the contest into doubt at the final press conference, claiming that he had proof the Japanese fighter has his hands wrapped in an unsafe manner.
“I talked to Fulton about my concerns, and he asked me not to discuss my concerns. Fulton said, ‘I don’t care if he has bricks in his gloves. I will still win.”
“As I admire his courage, I have to do my job and look out for his safety. In previous fights, Inoue and his team have wrapped his hands with an excessive amount of tape on his skin and then put gauze and more tape, which creates a cast.”
“This is not an assumption. I have proof. We could also wrap our hands in the same fashion, but where is the level of safety for the fighter? If this issue isn’t resolved, I will not allow my fighter into the ring.”
“We are already behind enemy lines. We have made no requests, nothing at all. We have not even asked for a rematch clause. This is the only request that we had made. I would like for the hand wraps to be wrapped in a safe manner, not with tape on the hands or on the skin.”
There has been some talk of Inoue’s hand wraps in the past, with some in the industry accusing him of stacking – a process which alternates between tape and gauze to build the wrap up and strengthen it.
It’s a grey area for commissions, some of which won’t allow it but others have seemed to let it go.
A member of Fulton’s team will be present in Inoue’s dressing room for the process before the fight, so fans can prepare for some controversy, a possible delay and, according to Rahim, a potential cancellation.