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

[TimeTeller]

There is the factor of environment though, you can't take that away from boxers who are fighting outside of their country. Might be the weather is different, the food, the people it could contributed to the fighter and it could spell the difference between winning and losing, and who knows, there could also be some home town decision for all we know. Classic example is Manny Pacquiao losing against Jeff Horn in Australia. So yeah their talents and tools might be the same when they fight outside of their country, but there are also intangibles that we need to look at.

There are factors that could affect the outcome of the fight in favor of Inoue, but if Fulton is serious about making a name for himself in the boxing industry, he needs to endure those factors and make sure he dictates the fight so he can win convincingly. Besides, this is a televised fight, and it would be a shame for Inoue's camp if he wins while it was Fulton who clearly dominated the fight.

Just imagine, on paper Inoue is the better fighter, and yet he still gets the advantage from the referees and judges?

It's not fair boxing anymore.

Japanese people are one of the honest human beings on this planet.
So I don't worry about being biased on this match, even if this will happen on Inoue's home country.
Also, with today's technology, anything can be seen to review such footages if they will try to tamper the results.
People have their own sophisticated cameras to see possible loopholes, if there's any.
So I don't think they will pull off a stunt here. Just to favor Inoue. We will see the true winner on this one, in my opinion.

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[Kemarit]

There is the factor of environment though, you can't take that away from boxers who are fighting outside of their country. Might be the weather is different, the food, the people it could contributed to the fighter and it could spell the difference between winning and losing, and who knows, there could also be some home town decision for all we know. Classic example is Manny Pacquiao losing against Jeff Horn in Australia. So yeah their talents and tools might be the same when they fight outside of their country, but there are also intangibles that we need to look at.

There are factors that could affect the outcome of the fight in favor of Inoue, but if Fulton is serious about making a name for himself in the boxing industry, he needs to endure those factors and make sure he dictates the fight so he can win convincingly. Besides, this is a televised fight, and it would be a shame for Inoue's camp if he wins while it was Fulton who clearly dominated the fight.

Just imagine, on paper Inoue is the better fighter, and yet he still gets the advantage from the referees and judges?

It's not fair boxing anymore.

Japanese people are one of the honest human beings on this planet.
So I don't worry about being biased on this match, even if this will happen on Inoue's home country.
Also, with today's technology, anything can be seen to review such footages if they will try to tamper the results.
People have their own sophisticated cameras to see possible loopholes, if there's any.
So I don't think they will pull off a stunt here. Just to favor Inoue. We will see the true winner on this one, in my opinion.

Not sure what you mean by sophisticated cameras because replays are not yet applicable in boxing. And I'm just laying that all the possibilities here. Nevertheless, I would agree that Japanese have the discipline and honestly, but there could be one judges that can ruined it here.

Anyway, the fight is still on this June, it will give ample time for Fulton to train harder. And he should be getting to Japan as early as he can so that he will adjust easily.

[Oilacris]

There is the factor of environment though, you can't take that away from boxers who are fighting outside of their country. Might be the weather is different, the food, the people it could contributed to the fighter and it could spell the difference between winning and losing, and who knows, there could also be some home town decision for all we know. Classic example is Manny Pacquiao losing against Jeff Horn in Australia. So yeah their talents and tools might be the same when they fight outside of their country, but there are also intangibles that we need to look at.

There are factors that could affect the outcome of the fight in favor of Inoue, but if Fulton is serious about making a name for himself in the boxing industry, he needs to endure those factors and make sure he dictates the fight so he can win convincingly. Besides, this is a televised fight, and it would be a shame for Inoue's camp if he wins while it was Fulton who clearly dominated the fight.

Just imagine, on paper Inoue is the better fighter, and yet he still gets the advantage from the referees and judges?

It's not fair boxing anymore.

Japanese people are one of the honest human beings on this planet.
So I don't worry about being biased on this match, even if this will happen on Inoue's home country.
Also, with today's technology, anything can be seen to review such footages if they will try to tamper the results.
People have their own sophisticated cameras to see possible loopholes, if there's any.
So I don't think they will pull off a stunt here. Just to favor Inoue. We will see the true winner on this one, in my opinion.

Not sure what you mean by sophisticated cameras because replays are not yet applicable in boxing. And I'm just laying that all the possibilities here. Nevertheless, I would agree that Japanese have the discipline and honestly, but there could be one judges that can ruined it here.

Anyway, the fight is still on this June, it will give ample time for Fulton to train harder. And he should be getting to Japan as early as he can so that he will adjust easily.

Some said do really talk about climate change factor which could really affect out a certain boxer but its not really that something that would really hinder Fulton on giving his best shot against Inoue.

Speaking about judges then if there would be some shady scoring and decisions to be made then we fans arent that dumb not to notice on whose really that in edge or does have more points.
If ever there would be some decisions which arent really that right at all then we would really be making up some words or opinions about on the numbers given or with the result.

The fight day is fast approaching and there would be adjustments and training would really be still have the ample time.

[danherbias07]

Not sure what you mean by sophisticated cameras because replays are not yet applicable in boxing. And I'm just laying that all the possibilities here. Nevertheless, I would agree that Japanese have the discipline and honestly, but there could be one judges that can ruined it here.

Anyway, the fight is still on this June, it will give ample time for Fulton to train harder. And he should be getting to Japan as early as he can so that he will adjust easily.

It does come down to that point sometimes and that is why I like TKO wins only. I don't want the fight to be concluded in the hands of the judges because sometimes it's not what we are expecting. I like scoring the fight too and most of the time 2 of the judges have the near scorecard as mine but one judge always goes in a different path. Sometimes I don't understand what they see that we don't or what the other 2 judges saw that the 1 judge didn't.
That's when questions will come out and on the recent UD fights that I saw it became the usual thing.

Japanese are truly disciplined people but there will always be the heart of a bias. But, I do believe it won't be Japanese people who will be sitting there to give points. They don't do that unless this is just an exhibition match like what happened in Korea with the Pacquiao versus DK Yoo fight. The undercards were mostly won by South Koreans even though it's too obvious other countries won it.

[Distinctin]

Japanese are truly disciplined people but there will always be the heart of a bias. But, I do believe it won't be Japanese people who will be sitting there to give points. They don't do that unless this is just an exhibition match like what happened in Korea with the Pacquiao versus DK Yoo fight. The undercards were mostly won by South Koreans even though it's too obvious other countries won it.

Since this is a championship fight, hopefully, there will be judges that are not from Japan, so people won't think it's a biased fight in case Inoue wins. However, even if there are three Japanese judges but the fight is won by KO by Inoue, there would be no issue stirring around. Nonetheless, since we cannot ensure the outcome of the fight, although the probability of Inoue winning is high, the organizers need to ensure fairness by getting judges that are not Japanese.

[bbc.reporter]

@Boafeng, @bisdak40. Is there a rematch clause for Fulton and Inoue? It appears that this has not been made clear in the news. I cannot find anything that mentions a rematch clause in my hard 10 seconds of searching hehehe. I will do more searching on google later, however, this should be easy to find but is not.

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

[Hypnosis00]

@bbc.reporter, this is a championship fight where Inoue is the challenger. I don't think a rematch clause is necessary unless both are champions. Maybe in favor of Fulton, if he loses, he could get a rematch since he is the defending champion. But if he wins here, then they will not fight again, unless Inoue improves and wins consistently and they will meet in a new division.

I'm just stating the possibilities, although most of us believe that Inoue will easily win this fight. But what if he loses?

At least we know what would happen in his future.

[btc_angela]

Japanese are truly disciplined people but there will always be the heart of a bias. But, I do believe it won't be Japanese people who will be sitting there to give points. They don't do that unless this is just an exhibition match like what happened in Korea with the Pacquiao versus DK Yoo fight. The undercards were mostly won by South Koreans even though it's too obvious other countries won it.

Since this is a championship fight, hopefully, there will be judges that are not from Japan, so people won't think it's a biased fight in case Inoue wins. However, even if there are three Japanese judges but the fight is won by KO by Inoue, there would be no issue stirring around. Nonetheless, since we cannot ensure the outcome of the fight, although the probability of Inoue winning is high, the organizers need to ensure fairness by getting judges that are not Japanese.

I can't find the judges on the second fight between Inoue and Donaire though, but maybe you are right, there could be judges too from the US since this is a official sanctioning fight by the belts being held by Fulton. So there could be American judges and not fully Japanese that will score the fight.

But the question is, do we think that it will boils down or at least the fight going to full 12 rounds? Fulton survived against the volume punching of Brandon Figueroa. But this is a different fighter in Inoue so we don't know if the fight will last or Inoue's power will go with him in this new division.

[Yaunfitda]

Not sure what you mean by sophisticated cameras because replays are not yet applicable in boxing. And I'm just laying that all the possibilities here. Nevertheless, I would agree that Japanese have the discipline and honestly, but there could be one judges that can ruined it here.

Anyway, the fight is still on this June, it will give ample time for Fulton to train harder. And he should be getting to Japan as early as he can so that he will adjust easily.

It does come down to that point sometimes and that is why I like TKO wins only. I don't want the fight to be concluded in the hands of the judges because sometimes it's not what we are expecting. I like scoring the fight too and most of the time 2 of the judges have the near scorecard as mine but one judge always goes in a different path. Sometimes I don't understand what they see that we don't or what the other 2 judges saw that the 1 judge didn't.
That's when questions will come out and on the recent UD fights that I saw it became the usual thing.

Maybe the other judge is not watching the fight,  . Or they are just really biased on the other fighter. So whatever the fight goes and what really happens in the right, he will still going to favor the other boxer he prefers. And this is how corrupt boxing judges are, they could be in the pocket of some of this big promoters and organizations.

Japanese are truly disciplined people but there will always be the heart of a bias. But, I do believe it won't be Japanese people who will be sitting there to give points. They don't do that unless this is just an exhibition match like what happened in Korea with the Pacquiao versus DK Yoo fight. The undercards were mostly won by South Koreans even though it's too obvious other countries won it.

True, we can't discount the fact that it's going to be in Japan so there could be biased. So the best thing for Fulton is not let the fight goes to the judges because maybe they will favor their local hero in Inoue. And to be fair with Japan, yeah other countries like South Korea is worst when it's comes to biased scoring. Specially during the Olympics way back when Roy Jones didn't win the gold but it was obvious that he is winning.

[Pamadar]

But the question is, do we think that it will boils down or at least the fight going to full 12 rounds? Fulton survived against the volume punching of Brandon Figueroa. But this is a different fighter in Inoue so we don't know if the fight will last or Inoue's power will go with him in this new division.

A good question here and can only be answered when they are already inside the ring,

and yeah, it will be a different power combination that might land in Fulton's critical areas and knowing how hard puncher Inoue was, it might bring him down if that will be converted to a solid clear punch.

Or, possibly also that Fulton really has that strong built that may absorb those punches and throw a good counter
or maybe he has a good plan to defend appropriately and take the fight to a decisioning 12 rounds.

[bisdak40]

@Boafeng, @bisdak40. Is there a rematch clause for Fulton and Inoue? It appears that this has not been made clear in the news. I cannot find anything that mentions a rematch clause in my hard 10 seconds of searching hehehe. I will do more searching on google later, however, this should be easy to find but is not.

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

Have not found also this rematch clause being mentioned in this fight and I'm inclined to believe that there is non because Fulton is the champion and he is not so vocal about the money, I mean he is there to fight and prove to us that he has the tool to tame the Japanese Monster. Might even be that if ever he loses this one he might move up in weight as there are talks before that he is heading that way.

I hope that there will be a unification for all the belts here but with the date moved to July I don't think that WBA and IBF can wait for a December showdown with Inoue/Fulton as they might order a mandatory defense for Tapales on either belt.

[yazher]

But the question is, do we think that it will boils down or at least the fight going to full 12 rounds? Fulton survived against the volume punching of Brandon Figueroa. But this is a different fighter in Inoue so we don't know if the fight will last or Inoue's power will go with him in this new division.

Most likely he can't survive up to 12 rounds judging from the past few opponents of Inoue and now that he increase his weight, I'm sure he is stronger than before and his punches are more powerful, I just can't say if his speed is still impossible to dodge but if that is the case, the chance of Fulton to win reach the 12 rounds of exchanging with Inoue is almost zero let alone to win this fight. He just needs to train well and is expected to take more powerful punches if he is ready and knows what to do after that, his chance will increase and might gonna pull a devastating knockout against Inoue.

[freedomgo]

@bbc.reporter, this is a championship fight where Inoue is the challenger. I don't think a rematch clause is necessary unless both are champions. Maybe in favor of Fulton, if he loses, he could get a rematch since he is the defending champion. But if he wins here, then they will not fight again, unless Inoue improves and wins consistently and they will meet in a new division.

I'm just stating the possibilities, although most of us believe that Inoue will easily win this fight. But what if he loses?

At least we know what would happen in his future.

Good point. Inoue got nothing to lose here since he is just a challenger and doesn't have any belts that are situated at 122 as this is just his first fight since he climbed, so their camp doesn't really care for that clause, however, for Fulton's camp, they might secure a rematch clause in their contract because this is a big fight for them since he got 2 belts under his possession. Moreover, Fulton is with Al Haymon, so it's kind of their signature to have some precautionary measures in place.

[harizen]

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

Providing the timeline, Tapales might have a title defense match first before having a chance to meet either Fulton or Inoue. Maybe only if the fight between Fulton and Inoue didn't move to July, the chance of Tapales to face next either of them is possible. As per Hearn, they will push the WBA to give Tapales a mandatory fight this year. On the other hand, I don't know what's the status now of Akhmadaliev's camp dispute on that fight. The last time I read about them, they are pushing for a rematch.

Back to the subject, I do also agree that there should be no rematch clause in this fight between Fulton and Inoue. Regardless if Fulton wins or loses, I'm sure he will now push his desire to move up to 126 lbs. As for Inoue, if he loses, he will still surely be the Rank 1 contender and if Fulton will vacate his title, another title fight is waiting for Inoue again.

[Maslate]

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

Providing the timeline, Tapales might have a title defense match first before having a chance to meet either Fulton or Inoue. Maybe only if the fight between Fulton and Inoue didn't move to July, the chance of Tapales to face next either of them is possible. As per Hearn, they will push the WBA to give Tapales a mandatory fight this year. On the other hand, I don't know what's the status now of Akhmadaliev's camp dispute on that fight. The last time I read about them, they are pushing for a rematch.

Back to the subject, I do also agree that there should be no rematch clause in this fight between Fulton and Inoue. Regardless if Fulton wins or loses, I'm sure he will now push his desire to move up to 126 lbs. As for Inoue, if he loses, he will still surely be the Rank 1 contender and if Fulton will vacate his title, another title fight is waiting for Inoue again.

It's a great opportunity for Inoue, which is why he is pushing to get this championship fight. Based on the speculation before, Fulton would have liked to move up, but since Inoue moved, he did not pursue it. Instead, they waited for Inoue and gave him a championship fight. So, it may be true that Fulton will move up, regardless of the outcome of the fight.

However, it's not only the title that is at stake here. It's also Inoue's status as one of the greatest boxers in his generation, and that will be greatly damaged if his undefeated record is ruined.

[goldkingcoiner]

Japanese are truly disciplined people but there will always be the heart of a bias. But, I do believe it won't be Japanese people who will be sitting there to give points. They don't do that unless this is just an exhibition match like what happened in Korea with the Pacquiao versus DK Yoo fight. The undercards were mostly won by South Koreans even though it's too obvious other countries won it.

Since this is a championship fight, hopefully, there will be judges that are not from Japan, so people won't think it's a biased fight in case Inoue wins. However, even if there are three Japanese judges but the fight is won by KO by Inoue, there would be no issue stirring around. Nonetheless, since we cannot ensure the outcome of the fight, although the probability of Inoue winning is high, the organizers need to ensure fairness by getting judges that are not Japanese.

I think that other than nationality, judges could easily be influenced by their own biases and fanships. Who is to say a judge won't favor a certain fighter over another just because he is personally a fan? Or because he does not like the other fighters skin color or country of origin?

So, as far as biases are concerned, there is more than simply the bias of national pride to worry about.

Judges need to be neutral and professional. They could as easily be corrupt individuals who accept bribes in order to judge unfairly for or against a certain boxer. Although from my experience the Japanese are a very trustworthy and honest people. So I would have no qualms about seeing a Japanese judge in the stand, even though Naoya is in the fight.

[Baofeng]

@Boafeng, @bisdak40. Is there a rematch clause for Fulton and Inoue? It appears that this has not been made clear in the news. I cannot find anything that mentions a rematch clause in my hard 10 seconds of searching hehehe. I will do more searching on google later, however, this should be easy to find but is not.

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

There is no rematch clause, listen to this interview, straight from Fulton himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1HlyBFnBm4&t=109s

Go move to 1:33, he was asked about a rematch clause and this is his answer.

There is no rematch clause.

So there you go, one and done for Fulton and Inoue. He knows Inoue has been knocking out fighters in 118 lbs, but obviously he believes that this is his division and not even Inoue can beat him at 122 lbs.

[dunfida]

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

Providing the timeline, Tapales might have a title defense match first before having a chance to meet either Fulton or Inoue. Maybe only if the fight between Fulton and Inoue didn't move to July, the chance of Tapales to face next either of them is possible. As per Hearn, they will push the WBA to give Tapales a mandatory fight this year. On the other hand, I don't know what's the status now of Akhmadaliev's camp dispute on that fight. The last time I read about them, they are pushing for a rematch.

Back to the subject, I do also agree that there should be no rematch clause in this fight between Fulton and Inoue. Regardless if Fulton wins or loses, I'm sure he will now push his desire to move up to 126 lbs. As for Inoue, if he loses, he will still surely be the Rank 1 contender and if Fulton will vacate his title, another title fight is waiting for Inoue again.

It's a great opportunity for Inoue, which is why he is pushing to get this championship fight. Based on the speculation before, Fulton would have liked to move up, but since Inoue moved, he did not pursue it. Instead, they waited for Inoue and gave him a championship fight. So, it may be true that Fulton will move up, regardless of the outcome of the fight.

However, it's not only the title that is at stake here. It's also Inoue's status as one of the greatest boxers in his generation, and that will be greatly damaged if his undefeated record is ruined.

Fulton would really be asking out for some rematch for sure if Inoue would beat him up before he would really be moving up, i dont know but it would be most likely that he would be asking for some rematch if the fight
result or outcome would really be that so close. I dont see for this match to be that so far in terms of fighting power and speed knowing that Fulton is another champ on the said division. Its true that
Inoue would be risking out his no-defeat record if ever he would lost to Fulton on here.It is really that looking exciting since both are really that tending to approach on going to higher division
but they've caught themselves and would really be having a match. Some saying that this would be an easy fight for Inoue but i dont really think that this would be the case.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

It would also be good for the division if there was no rematch clause. Tapales vs. Akhmadaliev had none and Tapales does not have any mandatory defenses. This implies that he will be given the freedom to fight for a unification against either Fulton or Inoue.

Providing the timeline, Tapales might have a title defense match first before having a chance to meet either Fulton or Inoue. Maybe only if the fight between Fulton and Inoue didn't move to July, the chance of Tapales to face next either of them is possible. As per Hearn, they will push the WBA to give Tapales a mandatory fight this year. On the other hand, I don't know what's the status now of Akhmadaliev's camp dispute on that fight. The last time I read about them, they are pushing for a rematch.

Back to the subject, I do also agree that there should be no rematch clause in this fight between Fulton and Inoue. Regardless if Fulton wins or loses, I'm sure he will now push his desire to move up to 126 lbs. As for Inoue, if he loses, he will still surely be the Rank 1 contender and if Fulton will vacate his title, another title fight is waiting for Inoue again.

It's a great opportunity for Inoue, which is why he is pushing to get this championship fight. Based on the speculation before, Fulton would have liked to move up, but since Inoue moved, he did not pursue it. Instead, they waited for Inoue and gave him a championship fight. So, it may be true that Fulton will move up, regardless of the outcome of the fight.

However, it's not only the title that is at stake here. It's also Inoue's status as one of the greatest boxers in his generation, and that will be greatly damaged if his undefeated record is ruined.

Fulton would really be asking out for some rematch for sure if Inoue would beat him up before he would really be moving up, i dont know but it would be most likely that he would be asking for some rematch if the fight
result or outcome would really be that so close. I dont see for this match to be that so far in terms of fighting power and speed knowing that Fulton is another champ on the said division. Its true that
Inoue would be risking out his no-defeat record if ever he would lost to Fulton on here.It is really that looking exciting since both are really that tending to approach on going to higher division
but they've caught themselves and would really be having a match. Some saying that this would be an easy fight for Inoue but i dont really think that this would be the case.

There will be no rematch as based on the youtube link provided about. So regardless of the outcome, there will be no second fight and most likely they will go on a separate ways. On the other hand, the winner could be waiting for Tapales for the unification fight.

No offense of Tapales backers here, as I love to see Filipinos fight because of their big heart. However, I don't see him beating any versions of the two fighters if ever they meet in the ring. And so this could be the biggest fight in the super bantamweight now. And maybe if Casimero will win in big fashion, his name can be inserted in the discussion. But for now it will be Tapales vs the winner of Inoue vs Fulton for unification is the next big fight.

[carlisle1]

But the question is, do we think that it will boils down or at least the fight going to full 12 rounds? Fulton survived against the volume punching of Brandon Figueroa. But this is a different fighter in Inoue so we don't know if the fight will last or Inoue's power will go with him in this new division.

Most likely he can't survive up to 12 rounds judging from the past few opponents of Inoue and now that he increase his weight, I'm sure he is stronger than before and his punches are more powerful, I just can't say if his speed is still impossible to dodge but if that is the case, the chance of Fulton to win reach the 12 rounds of exchanging with Inoue is almost zero let alone to win this fight. He just needs to train well and is expected to take more powerful punches if he is ready and knows what to do after that, his chance will increase and might gonna pull a devastating knockout against Inoue.

He needs to add more trainings in terms of counter punches and not just an ordinary counter but a solid one that can also
bring Inoue down. If he adjusts and brings something like this, the chance of winning is possible.

It's not hard for Fulton as he's also a champ and he just need to add on his aim in bringing down Inoue, upset the heavy favorite will increase
the hypes of his name from this sport.

Looking to see a good and clean fight between these two champ, more on toe-to-toe confrontations for a possible KO!