Naoya Inoue vs Stephen Fulton LIVE: UK ring walk time, streaming and results

Inoue punches a young fan in the front row with a (pretty aggressive!) punch. You love to see it, that will have made the year of the boy.

As a challenger, home favorite Inoue is the first to start!

A great reaction for the “monster”, as was to be expected.

The representatives of the WBC and WBO commissions are in the ring. Just a few more formalities before the fighters show up.

We should have seen this coming… A lengthy video packet will be broadcast before the ring rolls!

T-minus five minutes until the ring runs. don’t go anywhere

Fulton: “I just see myself as a winner no matter how I do it.

“Will I be a realist or will I hope for a knockout? When it comes, it comes.

“He’ll be fine. He is in his country, he will feel good. I defend out there.”

Fulton leading up to this fight: “[Inoue] has his country behind him, as does his knockout power.

“He’s a technical fighter; I’m a technical fighter. He’s a smart fighter; I’m a smart fighter.

“I feel like my fighting style is very smart – a very intelligent fighting style. I fight on my mood.”

There’s no question that Fulton marks a step forward for Inoue after their last fight.

The 29-year-old American is unbeaten like his opponent here and holds a pro record of 21-0 (8 KOs).

“Cool Boy Steph” is a former IBO super bantamweight champion who won the WBO belt in January 2021 by besting Angelo Leo.

Fulton then clinched the WBC title in November 2021 with a points win over Brandon Figueroa.

Since then, the American has fought once and retained his gold with a decision win over David Roman in June 2022.

As such, it was quite a long hiatus for Fulton before going into this fight.

Here’s a recap of Inoue’s last fight, a fight against Paul Butler in December that left the Japanese undisputed at bantamweight…

“Inoue had home field court advantage in Tokyo and continued to show ringside advantage throughout Main Event competition, playing with Butler from the opening bell. Inoue entered Ariake Arena with an undefeated record and never seemed in danger of losing that or his IBF, WBA and WBC titles as he attempted to capture Butler’s WBO belt.

Nicknamed ‘Monster’, Inoue assisted the Brit in the first half of the competition, mixing his offense with vicious hooks to the body and piercing punches to the head, while Butler’s rare moments of activity didn’t seem to faze Inoue.

“Butler’s primary focus was maintaining high cover and relying on lateral movements to avoid Inoue, who demonstrated masterful head movement when needed to stay just out of range of the 34-year-old’s sporadic attacks. As the competition went on, a bored-looking Inoue began taunting Butler by fighting with his hands down and chin out, calling for the defending WBO champion to attack.

“Butler, whose reduced speed and power were evident, never really opened up enough for Inoue to land the counterstrike he seemed to have wanted, so the Japanese bantamweight set about finding a finish in the 10th round.”

“After freezing Butler with a vicious hook to the body, Inoue fired a barrage of headshots at his opponent, who had his back against the ropes. Butler covered himself up, crouched, and then dropped onto the canvas. Moments later, the Brit was laid flat on his stomach, holding his head and the referee waved him off.”

For casual fans, Inoue is one of the lesser-known names on any pound-for-pound list. He’s not lacking in skill, nor in profile.

Inoue has the best interrupt rate of any fighter on our list (21 KOs from 24 wins) which makes him such an exciting fighter – along with his effortless dodges, brutal body attacks and frightening level of power.

In June 2022, the “Monster” lived up to his nickname again by defeating Nonito Donaire in a rematch after narrowly beating the Filipino in the first fight. With this second win over Donaire, Inoue added the WBC belt to his bantamweight title collection and he rocketed from No. 5 to the top of that list.

The world threeweight champion still has a lot ahead of him, including this switch to super bantamweight against Fulton.