Naoya Inoue knocked out Stephen Fulton Jr. at 1:14 of Round 8 to take Fulton’s two 122-pound titles, making the Japanese star a four-division champion.
Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) dominated the fight from the opening bell, keeping Fulton (21-1, 8 KOs) on his heels with a fierce, relentless attack of jabs and hard power shots to the head and body.
Fulton ended up in a defensive posture early in the fight, which gave him little chance to win rounds let alone the fight.
The end came suddenly. Inoue hurt Fulton with a right hand about 45 seconds into the final round and followed with a left, which put Fulton on the canvas.
The Philadelphia fighter was able to get up but quickly absorbed on onslaught of punches that prompted referee Hector Afu to stop the one-sided fight.
Inoue’s performance was arguably the greatest of his career given Fulton’s ability and size advantage going into the fight.
You can read a full report here.
***
Junior featherweight titleholder Stephen Fulton Jr. is scheduled to defend his belts against former three-division champion Naoya Inoue on Tuesday night (early morning hours in the U.S.) in Tokyo (ESPN+).
The featured bouts on the card begin at 4:30 a.m. ET / 1:30 a.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post the result of the main event immediately after it ends. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – a fight story, analysis and more – will follow on separate posts the day of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
[lawrence-related id=38188,38148,34867,34819,34811,30757,30745,30719,30678]