“He had a dream, that’s what he told me, of fighting on a big, big stage ...”
Carson, California. He then had five fights overseas and won the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament in 2019, after which he signed to a co-promotional deal with Top Rank. His debut under the Top Rank banner was set to be at the Mandalay Bay in 2020 versus John Riel Casimero, a bantamweight unification bout at the time. Unfortunately, this was one of the first fight cards that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It could’ve done huge numbers at the box office, according to many insiders. “I can’t remember a fight where I received so many calls from international marketing divisions from different casinos for that ticket,” Jim Boone, a leading ticket broker, told The Ring. “It was absolutely incredible. The funny thing was everyone would call and pronounce Inoue’s name incorrectly. I heard multiple ways of pronouncing his name. It was the real deal. It had a big-fight feel to it.” In an effort to clear up the pronunciation of Naoya’s last name, the easy way is “ee-no-way,” but the more proper way has four syllables and
No. 1. No longer is he a curiosity from “The Land of the Rising Sun.” Inoue has an international profile among boxing fans and is now a bona fide icon in his home country. There was a growing chorus from certain fans that for Inoue to really prove himself, he had to fight on American soil. Never mind that he had already done so a few times. The reality is that he didn’t have to, but he wanted to return to the States – this time with the full capability of drawing a much bigger audience. “Very much so,” confirmed Arum. “He had a dream, that’s what he told me, of fighting on a big, big stage, particularly in Las Vegas. So he’s going to do that big
fight at the T-Mobile, which is the largest indoor arena in Vegas.” But you do wish he’d had stiffer opposition on May 4. To many fans, Inoue facing Cardenas was akin to Shohei Ohtani hitting off a batting tee. Who knows? Maybe something unlikely happened that evening – and yeah, it would make this column a bit farcical – but it’s doubtful. To put this into perspective, a Cardenas victory would be a bigger upset than Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson. Regardless, this will have been a chance – perhaps the last one – for American fans to see a truly special prizefighter while still in his prime. Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right? There are plans for Inoue to face former unified 122-pound titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev and WBA featherweight beltholder Nick Ball later in 2025, with locales such as Japan and Saudi Arabia being mentioned.
Promoter Bob Arum expects more stateside visits from Inoue.
sounds like “ee-noh-oo-ay.” Eventually, Inoue would face Jason Moloney in the Top Rank “Bubble” in October 2020 and then Michael Dasmarinas at the small room inside the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas the following year. At that time, Inoue was a highly respected boxer with an avid following among the hardcore denizens of the sport, but he had yet to break into the mainstream consciousness outside of Japan. A lot has taken place since then. Inoue not only became both the undisputed bantamweight and junior featherweight champion in the subsequent years, but he is now considered to be among the finest pound-for-pound fighters in the world, if not
However, Arum isn’t convinced that this is Inoue’s last dance in America. “He’s a relatively young man, and he will be fighting at 122 for the next year,” said Arum. “Then once he gets to 126, we expect we’ll be able to bring him back to the United States, because we have so many 126-pound champions.” Always thinking ahead, the 93-year-old Hall of Famer put WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza in the May 4 co-feature, thus providing an ESPN-televised foundation for a possible matchup with The Monster. “That’s why he’s on the card.”
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