The Boxing Truth®

Undefeated Undisputed Jr. Featherweight world champion Naoya Inoue scored a fourth round knockout of WBO number eleven rated Jr. Featherweight contender Ye Joon Kim on Friday night at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Despite Kim taking the fight on eleven days notice, over 15,000 spectators filled the Ariake Arena, a site that has hosted several of Inoue’s previous fights. A testament to the star power of Inoue in his native Japan where he has become in many observer’s opinions as among the best fighters pound for pound in the world. This fight also presented a little of a different challenge for the four-division world champion in having to adjust to a change of opponent after original opponent, IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman was forced to pull out of the fight twice, first on the original date on Christmas Eve of last year and then having to pull out of the rescheduled date of January 24th due to the cut that he suffered in training prior to the original postponement. Kim appe...

There is little doubt that one of the biggest stars to emerge in the sport of Boxing over the last several years, not just in the lower weight divisions, but in the entire sport has been Nayoa Inoue. If a fighter with a near 90% career knockout percentage is not enough to earn one star status in the sport on its own, Inoue is a four-division world champion, who has this far won world titles from the Jr. Flyweight to the Jr. Featherweight divisions becoming an undisputed champion in both the Bantamweight and Jr. Featherweight divisions along the way.  A fighter that has truly carved a Hall of Fame career in just twenty-eight professional fights having fought a who's who along the way, dominating all opposition and emerging still unbeaten. While the question that typically follows a fighter like Inoue who has gone through multiple weight divisions with relative ease is how high up the weight scale before they hit the ceiling, not just in terms of how high they can go, but also doing ...

The next chapter in the career of undefeated four-division world champion Naoya Inoue, a man who also holds the distinction of becoming an undisputed world champion in both the 118lb. Bantamweight and 122lb. Jr. Featherweight divisions was one that some felt was a formality. Despite suffering a scare in his last title defense of the Undisputed Jr. Featherweight crown against former world champion Luis Nery, where he was knocked down for the first time in his career, some thought his opponent in former IBF Jr. Featherweight world champion TJ Doheny would be overmatched due to the often devastating punching power that Inoue has. What fans including those who were in attendance at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on September 3rd were treated to, however, was a surprisingly tactical battle where the challenger more than held his own, despite the bleak odds that he faced.  Doheny used frequent faints to disrupt Inoue’s ability to find a rhythm and put forth a consistent attack. This no...

It has been announced that the April 8th Jr. Flyweight world championship unification bout between WBC world champion Kenshiro Teraji and WBO world champion Johnathan Gonzalez has been called off. The bout, which was scheduled for April 8th at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan and was to include the vacant WBA world championship in the 108lb. Jr. Flyweight division was called off when Gonzalez had to withdraw from the bout after coming down with pneumonia. As of this writing, an attempt is being made by promoters and Teraji 's handlers to secure a substitute opponent in what one would assume would be an attempt to not only maintain the April 8th date, but also a defense of his WBC world championship. The Teraji-Gonzalez unification bout was scheduled to be streamed here in the United States on digital subscription sports streaming network ESPN+ . Obviously, with the status of the event now uncertain, there is also no word as of this writing as to whether the network will still strea...