[Boxing] Stephen Fulton vs. Naoya Inoue | WBC & WBO 122 lbs bout | July 25

[Ziskinberg]

For sure if this first match would be ending up that interesting the anytime there would really be a rematch that would be arranged on which im also anticipating for this one which it wont really be that shocking..

I'm not sure with the rematch. Stephen Fulton is ready to moved up to Featherweight division and it's just that Inoue climbed at 122, leaving him with no choice but to face Inoue first. I do think that there will be no rematch here and regardless of the result, Stephen Fulton will moved up no matter what.

But let's see first what will happened as there's even no mentioned yet, even in some news, that there's a rematch clause on the contract.

It is possible a rematch may not happen and this could be the only instance in which we will see Fulton and Inoue fighting each other, because as you mention Fulton was already to move up a division, however the opportunity to fight Inoue presented itself and Fulton could not let this opportunity to pass him up, after all he wants to gain more recognition, and what better way to gain it than to beat the boxer many consider to be the best pound for pound on his own country?

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

[btc_angela]

For sure if this first match would be ending up that interesting the anytime there would really be a rematch that would be arranged on which im also anticipating for this one which it wont really be that shocking..

I'm not sure with the rematch. Stephen Fulton is ready to moved up to Featherweight division and it's just that Inoue climbed at 122, leaving him with no choice but to face Inoue first. I do think that there will be no rematch here and regardless of the result, Stephen Fulton will moved up no matter what.

But let's see first what will happened as there's even no mentioned yet, even in some news, that there's a rematch clause on the contract.

It is possible a rematch may not happen and this could be the only instance in which we will see Fulton and Inoue fighting each other, because as you mention Fulton was already to move up a division, however the opportunity to fight Inoue presented itself and Fulton could not let this opportunity to pass him up, after all he wants to gain more recognition, and what better way to gain it than to beat the boxer many consider to be the best pound for pound on his own country?

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Fulton is also supposedly rematch Figueroa because the result of their first fight was a bit controversial. But he chooses not to and just go directly with Fulton here. While Figueroa make that good decision to go for Magsayo for the vacate belt and won.

But here, we can't discount the fact that there could be rematch or non at all, depends on the outcome of the fight as you have said.

And most likely if there is rematch, it could be in the States and it will be Inoue who will have to travel to Fulton's backyard.

[carlisle1]

For sure if this first match would be ending up that interesting the anytime there would really be a rematch that would be arranged on which im also anticipating for this one which it wont really be that shocking..

I'm not sure with the rematch. Stephen Fulton is ready to moved up to Featherweight division and it's just that Inoue climbed at 122, leaving him with no choice but to face Inoue first. I do think that there will be no rematch here and regardless of the result, Stephen Fulton will moved up no matter what.

But let's see first what will happened as there's even no mentioned yet, even in some news, that there's a rematch clause on the contract.

It is possible a rematch may not happen and this could be the only instance in which we will see Fulton and Inoue fighting each other, because as you mention Fulton was already to move up a division, however the opportunity to fight Inoue presented itself and Fulton could not let this opportunity to pass him up, after all he wants to gain more recognition, and what better way to gain it than to beat the boxer many consider to be the best pound for pound on his own country?

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Fulton is also supposedly rematch Figueroa because the result of their first fight was a bit controversial. But he chooses not to and just go directly with Fulton here. While Figueroa make that good decision to go for Magsayo for the vacate belt and won.

But here, we can't discount the fact that there could be rematch or non at all, depends on the outcome of the fight as you have said.

And most likely if there is rematch, it could be in the States and it will be Inoue who will have to travel to Fulton's backyard.

Possible if ever they have a rematch claw when they've signed the deal/contract, I'm sure fans will love to see if they
will get the entertainment that they've paid for.

Both fighters are champs and they are likely to have a selection of fans though in my opinion, fans wise Inoue is more likely got a wider one
compared to Fulton.

correct me if I'm wrong, though it's just my opinion in terms of numbers of fans.

[Japinat]

For sure if this first match would be ending up that interesting the anytime there would really be a rematch that would be arranged on which im also anticipating for this one which it wont really be that shocking..

I'm not sure with the rematch. Stephen Fulton is ready to moved up to Featherweight division and it's just that Inoue climbed at 122, leaving him with no choice but to face Inoue first. I do think that there will be no rematch here and regardless of the result, Stephen Fulton will moved up no matter what.

But let's see first what will happened as there's even no mentioned yet, even in some news, that there's a rematch clause on the contract.

It is possible a rematch may not happen and this could be the only instance in which we will see Fulton and Inoue fighting each other, because as you mention Fulton was already to move up a division, however the opportunity to fight Inoue presented itself and Fulton could not let this opportunity to pass him up, after all he wants to gain more recognition, and what better way to gain it than to beat the boxer many consider to be the best pound for pound on his own country?

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Yeah, let's not get ahead of ourselves, Fulton is also supposedly rematch Figueroa because the result of their first fight was a bit controversial. But he chooses not to and just go directly with Fulton here. While Figueroa make that good decision to go for Magsayo for the vacate belt and won.

But here, we can't discount the fact that there could be rematch or non at all, depends on the outcome of the fight as you have said.

And most likely if there is rematch, it could be in the States and it will be Inoue who will have to travel to Fulton's backyard.

Possible if ever they have a rematch claw when they've signed the deal/contract, I'm sure fans will love to see if they
will get the entertainment that they've paid for.

Both fighters are champs and they are likely to have a selection of fans though in my opinion, fans wise Inoue is more likely got a wider one
compared to Fulton.

correct me if I'm wrong, though it's just my opinion in terms of numbers of fans.

You might be right that Naoya Inoue got more fans around the world compared to Steph Fulton, although there's actually no statistics to confirm our theory but I guess it's safe to assume that one. Anyway, knowing that Al Haymon is with Steph Fulton, there might be rematch clause that they chose not to mention as of now, just like with the Canelo vs Bivol, we never knew there were any until Canelo was defeated.

[harizen]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Personally for me, regardless if there's a rematch clause or not, I'm not really thinking anything about rematch. But if I will share my own opinion about that, I don't see Fulton will consider a rematch if he lose but instead, will focus on moving up weight.

But too early to discuss that scenario. What we need to wait in the following more weeks or months is, a report stating that Naoya Inoue is now 100% healthy, fit and capable for the fight. We don't want to see either of them are having a handicap in the match. It will spoil the fun and will leave lots of questions and series of "what if's".

[LUCKMCFLY]

We cannot really blame them if that's what they wanted, after all, Inoue is a precious cash cow to Bob Arum and therefore he cannot really afford to see Inoue depreciate its value if in-case he is defeated. Anyway, there was once a supposed fight between the two of them but because of Covid-19, it wasn't pushed through. Now that they are both in the same division again, I hope their path will cross once again because people are already rooting for this to happen.

If only Casimero just did the right thing, then we should already see him clashing with Inoue. It's not being Inoue being a cash cow and they didn't avoid Casimero. It's just that Casimero is the reason why he become out of the discussion. I don't think Inoue is afraid of Casimero and even though I'm with Quadro Alas here, I didn't expect that he will have an easy win against Inoue.

More importantly, Casimero should not just pick top boxers but just negotiate a deal even with those below rankings just to have an active fight. As long as he keeps and continues winning, he will gain his rank and later on, will be included in the contender's discussion.

With all the things happening right now, i don't think Inoue is afraid of our "kababayan", in fact when they were still in the bantamweight, the Japanese Monster was calling out Casimero and the latter should have fought Inoue if not for their foolishness.

It's just that Casimero had a high chance of winning against Inoue due to his speed and power if we compare to the other opponents of Inoue. That Butler unification fight was a gimme because he was not as talented as Casimero and if we look deeper, Inoue have not fought boxers who is equally dangerous to Casimero lately so if Casimero vs Inoue will puh through then this would be exciting.

I understand your point and I know what you want to get to, but you also have to see something, although Inoue is a boxer of a very high level, it has to be put into context that he is getting there and his first meeting must be with a boxer who shows him what heavy that the blows can be, and you already have an idea of what awaits you, obviously a fight between Casimero and Inoue is ideal, for me it is a great option that can happen, and yes, in fact that fight will happen, that There is not the slightest doubt about that, only that as I said before, Inoue's fame should not be killed without having started, well that is what I think they take into consideration.

[Jating]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Personally for me, regardless if there's a rematch clause or not, I'm not really thinking anything about rematch. But if I will share my own opinion about that, I don't see Fulton will consider a rematch if he lose but instead, will focus on moving up weight.

Good point, we've heard that he wanted to go up in weight already, but maybe he was advise by his camp to still campaign here even at the last time to face Inoue. As he is a good name in his resume and he will be really tested on this one. So I will say that it's a good move for him and it's a win win. Even if he losses this fight and the belt, he will proved to the boxing fans that he is not afraid to face anyone in the ring even against the Monster in his own country. And boxers love this kind of challenges and this is a great opportunity for Stephen Fulton to cement his legacy this early in his career, rematch or no rematch.

[harizen]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Personally for me, regardless if there's a rematch clause or not, I'm not really thinking anything about rematch. But if I will share my own opinion about that, I don't see Fulton will consider a rematch if he lose but instead, will focus on moving up weight.

Good point, we've heard that he wanted to go up in weight already, but maybe he was advise by his camp to still campaign here even at the last time to face Inoue. As he is a good name in his resume and he will be really tested on this one. So I will say that it's a good move for him and it's a win win. Even if he losses this fight and the belt, he will proved to the boxing fans that he is not afraid to face anyone in the ring even against the Monster in his own country. And boxers love this kind of challenges and this is a great opportunity for Stephen Fulton to cement his legacy this early in his career, rematch or no rematch.

Honestly, it's like "business not finished" for Stephe Fulton and since it's timing that Inoue moved up and Fulton is still there at 122, he decided to pursue first the new challenge at 122 rather than pushing to his original plan at 126.

Aside from that, I'm also see it's more of pride as if Fulton still insists to moved up on 126 and ignoring Inoue, he might receive some criticism that he is might ducking or afraid of the Japanese monster.

Moving forward, the fight now happened and we just have to wait who will be the winner.

[goinmerry]

Good point, we've heard that he wanted to go up in weight already, but maybe he was advise by his camp to still campaign here even at the last time to face Inoue. As he is a good name in his resume and he will be really tested on this one. So I will say that it's a good move for him and it's a win win. Even if he losses this fight and the belt, he will proved to the boxing fans that he is not afraid to face anyone in the ring even against the Monster in his own country. And boxers love this kind of challenges and this is a great opportunity for Stephen Fulton to cement his legacy this early in his career, rematch or no rematch.

As far as my memory is concerned, it's already known to everyone that Stephen Fulton will really move up to the Featherweight division. Boxing fans are even waiting for Stephen Fulton's rematch against Brandon Figueroa but this time, in the Featherweight division since for those who didn't know, Fulton and Figueroa face each other at 122 with the former winning the fight. Currently, Figueroa decided to move up to 126 as he recently defeated Mark Magsayo for the interim champion. And Naoya Inoue on the other hand, decided to leave the bantamweight to face a new challenge at the super bantamweight.

EDIT: I want to share this Twitter tweet 5 months ago saying Fulton really decided to move up to 126 without even showing interest to fight his counterpart champion at the 122, Akhmadaliev. But things changed when Inoue enters the scene at 122.

[Pamadar]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Personally for me, regardless if there's a rematch clause or not, I'm not really thinking anything about rematch. But if I will share my own opinion about that, I don't see Fulton will consider a rematch if he lose but instead, will focus on moving up weight.

Good point, we've heard that he wanted to go up in weight already, but maybe he was advise by his camp to still campaign here even at the last time to face Inoue. As he is a good name in his resume and he will be really tested on this one. So I will say that it's a good move for him and it's a win win. Even if he losses this fight and the belt, he will proved to the boxing fans that he is not afraid to face anyone in the ring even against the Monster in his own country. And boxers love this kind of challenges and this is a great opportunity for Stephen Fulton to cement his legacy this early in his career, rematch or no rematch.

Honestly, it's like "business not finished" for Stephe Fulton and since it's timing that Inoue moved up and Fulton is still there at 122, he decided to pursue first the new challenge at 122 rather than pushing to his original plan at 126.

Aside from that, I'm also see it's more of pride as if Fulton still insists to moved up on 126 and ignoring Inoue, he might receive some criticism that he is might ducking or afraid of the Japanese monster.

Moving forward, the fight now happened and we just have to wait who will be the winner.

Better to face Inoue and let the fans to decide who's better between them instead of taking those criticisms about ducking the unifying champ from his previous weight division.

Yes, moving forward, we are just need to wait for the date and see both fighters meeting inside the ring
and showcasing their skills and talents, either Fulton or Inoue, it will be witnessed by our eyes when the schedule
set to go.

[Silberman]

Better to face Inoue and let the fans to decide who's better between them instead of taking those criticisms about ducking the unifying champ from his previous weight division.

The decision to face Inoue was not an easy one for Fulton, even if he believes he can beat him the chances are not low for Inoue to beat him as well, so he could have easily avoid him if he wanted as he had already expressed the desire to move up a division, and even if some fans criticized him he could always defend himself using this reason, fortunately for us Fulton decided to take the challenge and even decided to wait for Inoue to get healthy after the injury he suffered.

[serjent05]

Better to face Inoue and let the fans to decide who's better between them instead of taking those criticisms about ducking the unifying champ from his previous weight division.

The decision to face Inoue was not an easy one for Fulton, even if he believes he can beat him the chances are not low for Inoue to beat him as well, so he could have easily avoid him if he wanted as he had already expressed the desire to move up a division, and even if some fans criticized him he could always defend himself using this reason, fortunately for us Fulton decided to take the challenge and even decided to wait for Inoue to get healthy after the injury he suffered.

We all know that Inoue is capable of knocking out his opponent, but I think if the benefit outweighs the risk then it is not hard to decide whether to fight Inoue or not.  Inoue is labeled a monster and many believe that he can dominate the super bantamweight division.  I think Fulton being the champion of the division is being challenged and beating Inoue can give him a foothold in reputation.  If Fulton defeats Inoue, his popularity is greatly boosted and his being the champion will not be questioned anymore.  So I do not think it is a hard decision for Fulton to fight Inoue.

[harizen]

Better to face Inoue and let the fans to decide who's better between them instead of taking those criticisms about ducking the unifying champ from his previous weight division.

The decision to face Inoue was not an easy one for Fulton, even if he believes he can beat him the chances are not low for Inoue to beat him as well, so he could have easily avoid him if he wanted as he had already expressed the desire to move up a division, and even if some fans criticized him he could always defend himself using this reason, fortunately for us Fulton decided to take the challenge and even decided to wait for Inoue to get healthy after the injury he suffered.

This is correct. There are boxers who want to build a legacy and gather more achievements by doing a strategy that they think, will have a better shot. It's just that Stephen Fulton is not like that and instead of moving-up weight, which is his main plan from the start even prior to Inoue moving up, he accepts the challenge of defending his title against the Japanese monster.

Because if Stephen Fulton really wants to stay at 122, he can challenge Murodjon Akhmadaliev for a unification fight. Just an update though that Murodjon Akhmadaliev is now out of the champions at the 122 as Marlon Tapales upsets him recently.

[goinmerry]

We all know that Inoue is capable of knocking out his opponent, but I think if the benefit outweighs the risk then it is not hard to decide whether to fight Inoue or not.  Inoue is labeled a monster and many believe that he can dominate the super bantamweight division.  I think Fulton being the champion of the division is being challenged and beating Inoue can give him a foothold in reputation.  If Fulton defeats Inoue, his popularity is greatly boosted and his being the champion will not be questioned anymore.  So I do not think it is a hard decision for Fulton to fight Inoue.

Facing Naoya Inoue is a big achievement to anyone especially if they will be able to upset him.

Stephen Fulton take that chance since if he able to upset Inoue, that was a big recognition waiting for him.

Not just that, a more good fight with a high value is also waiting for him if he beats Naoya Inoue even as a challenger.

[Maslate]

We all know that Inoue is capable of knocking out his opponent, but I think if the benefit outweighs the risk then it is not hard to decide whether to fight Inoue or not.  Inoue is labeled a monster and many believe that he can dominate the super bantamweight division.  I think Fulton being the champion of the division is being challenged and beating Inoue can give him a foothold in reputation.  If Fulton defeats Inoue, his popularity is greatly boosted and his being the champion will not be questioned anymore.  So I do not think it is a hard decision for Fulton to fight Inoue.

Facing Naoya Inoue is a big achievement to anyone especially if they will be able to upset him.

Stephen Fulton take that chance since if he able to upset Inoue, that was a big recognition waiting for him.

Not just that, a more good fight with a high value is also waiting for him if he beats Naoya Inoue even as a challenger.

Yes, that's for sure! Except for Nonito Donaire, Naoya Inoue haven't had and faced any opponents with the same caliber that brings the monster within Inoue and I believe Steph Fulton will able to do that and give the Japanese boxer a good fight. And if Fulton will bring an upset then it's understandable that his value will greatly increase as he is the first boxer who brings the monster down, just like what Bivol experienced when he defeated Canelo Alvarez.

But that is still debatable knowing that Inoue will always evolve especially if his opponent is a high caliber, both boxers will be an acid test for each other and I can't wait to see this fight.

[harizen]

And if Fulton will bring an upset then it's understandable that his value will greatly increase as he is the first boxer who brings the monster down,

Honestly, I don't want to call it an upset win if Fulton will win this fight against Inoue.

Technically speaking, I'm more of seeing both of them as somehow not having that much gap in terms of strength. It just happened that Inoue really proves that no one from the bantamweight (118) can defeat him and that makes him a big deal when he decided to move up to 122 and face right away the champion.

I'm looking forward to Fulton giving Inoue the toughest fight of its career.

[goinmerry]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Even there's a rematch clause, I'm sure the loser of this fight will not request it.

Inoue, if lose, will just wait again for this turn to be in the title match. Fulton, if loses here, will just move up to the original plan and vacate his titles.  But let's see if there will be any rematch that will happen once they finished and settle this fight. We should not think about that for now.

EDIT: I tried to look for any article that can somehow show us if there's a rematch clause on their contract but found nothing.

[Sanitough]

We can only expect a rematch if it's written in the contract. And since it was not announced that there was something like that, we should not expect a rematch. However, it still depends on the outcome of this fight. If the outcome is controversial and this fight sells to the crowd, promoters would love to make a rematch as they'll make more money from it. The fighters just have to follow the orders from their promoters.

Even there's a rematch clause, I'm sure the loser of this fight will not request it.

Inoue, if lose, will just wait again for this turn to be in the title match. Fulton, if loses here, will just move up to the original plan and vacate his titles.  But let's see if there will be any rematch that will happen once they finished and settle this fight. We should not think about that for now.

EDIT: I tried to look for any article that can somehow show us if there's a rematch clause on their contract but found nothing.

If Inoue experiences his first loss in this fight, it would be appropriate for him to ask for a rematch and try to reclaim his status. As for Fulton, he will surely not say no because this is a big fight and winning against a superstar like Inoue would mean a significant boost to his career and earnings in boxing. Anyone who can beat Inoue will likely enjoy a successful career in the sport.

[Jawhead999]

If Inoue experiences his first loss in this fight, it would be appropriate for him to ask for a rematch and try to reclaim his status. As for Fulton, he will surely not say no because this is a big fight and winning against a superstar like Inoue would mean a significant boost to his career and earnings in boxing. Anyone who can beat Inoue will likely enjoy a successful career in the sport.

Take a look with Bivol as an example, he already defend his WBA belt for many times and he's nothing for many people. After he able to defend his belt against Canelo, he's included in 10 P4P boxing, his power rate is higher than Beterbiev, and everyone consider Bivol is an one of strongest boxer in the world.

Inoue currently top 2 P4P boxing, of course Fulton will be included in top 10 P4P boxing too if he able to beat Inoue.

[Sanitough]

If Inoue experiences his first loss in this fight, it would be appropriate for him to ask for a rematch and try to reclaim his status. As for Fulton, he will surely not say no because this is a big fight and winning against a superstar like Inoue would mean a significant boost to his career and earnings in boxing. Anyone who can beat Inoue will likely enjoy a successful career in the sport.

Take a look with Bivol as an example, he already defend his WBA belt for many times and he's nothing for many people. After he able to defend his belt against Canelo, he's included in 10 P4P boxing, his power rate is higher than Beterbiev, and everyone consider Bivol is an one of strongest boxer in the world.

Inoue currently top 2 P4P boxing, of course Fulton will be included in top 10 P4P boxing too if he able to beat Inoue.

Yeah, definitely. So, most likely this is a shortcut for a bigger success, that's why he does not move up and instead faces Inoue, who is a very popular boxer. I like his confidence too as he believes he can beat Inoue, even though we haven't seen Inoue having trouble with his opponents in boxing. Well, the closest one was against Donaire in their first meeting, but he still won that fight.

So, it's a big opportunity for Fulton, and he would like to take advantage of that opportunity now.