Japan’s Little Monster Has Too Much Firepower for Stephen Fulton

Top Rank Promotions invited fight fans in North America to have breakfast with the Monster on Tuesday morning on ESPN+. The Monster, more formally Naoya Inoue, turned in a masterclass at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena, dominating defending WBC and WBO 122-pound champion Stephen Fulton en route to an eighth-round stoppage. In the process, the baby-faced Monster won a world title in a fourth weight division.

Philadelphia’s Fulton fought tentatively. Although he was the bigger man with a three-inch reach advantage, his jab was ineffective. The end came in round eight. Inoue hurt Fulton with a short right hand and then put him on the deck with an explosive left hook. Fulton got to his feet, but was greeted with a fusillade of punches that compelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 1:14 of round eight.

In his previous fight, Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) unified the 118-pound title with an 11th-round stoppage of overmatched Paul Butler.  That made him the first fully unified bantamweight champion in the four-belt era and the first Asian to become a fully unified champion in any weight class. He will now attempt to unify the 122-pound class where Marlon Tapales owns the other pieces of the title. Tapales was in the building tonight and there is a tentative agreement in place for them to meet in the fall.

It was the first pro loss for Fulton (21-1, 8 KOs) who is expected to move up to 126 for a rematch with Brandon Figueroa.

Co-Feature

Cuban defector Robeisy Ramirez, who trains in Las Vegas under Ismael Salas, won his thirteenth straight fight, improving to 13-1 (8) while successfully defending his WBO world featherweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Japan’s lanky, 37-year-old Satoshi Shimiza (12-2).

Both of these fighters were two-time Olympians with Ramirez winning gold medals in 2012 and 2016 and Shimiza capturing a bronze in 2012.

Ramirez was making the first defense of the title vacated by Emanuel Navarrete. He won the belt with a wide decision over Isaac Dogboe.

The end came at the 1:08 mark of round five. A left uppercut put Shimiza on the canvas. When he arose, blood was streaming from his nose and his mouth and after a few more punches, the referee waived it off.

Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE