Undisputed: Naoya Inoue was made to work for his late-round stoppage of Paul Butler
(Picture: AP)Naoya Inoue stopped Britain’s Paul Butler late to make history as the first undisputed men’s bantamweight world champion of boxing’s four-belt era in Tokyo on Tuesday.
‘The Monster’ is the first Asian boxer ever to become a four-belt world champion after a completely dominant display at Ariake Arena that saw him produce a typically spiteful 11th-round knockout to add the WBO belt to his WBA, WBC and IBF titles in what will surely be his final fight at 118lbs before moving up in weight once more.
Three-division champion and pound-for-pound great Inoue’s formidable professional record now stands at 24-0 with 21 knockouts, though he was made to work hard for that latest victory by the experienced Butler, whose second world title reign proved predictably shortlived.
However, the massive underdog from Cheshire - who held the interim WBO belt and was then upgraded to full champion status following the stripping of John Riel Casimero in May - did not fall victim to an early demolition job as most had predicted, instead absorbing plenty of punishment throughout the contest but deploying strict defensive tactics designed to frustrate heavy favourite Inoue and prevent him from finding those trademark violent finishing blows.
Tuesday’s contest followed a similar pattern throughout, with the dominant Inoue in complete control at every moment and emptying his bag of tricks, switching stances and throwing everything at Butler in a bid to avoid being taken the full distance for only the fourth time in his career and second since 2016, showing superb speed, variety and footwork throughout.
Inoue even threw in an Ali shuffle and mimicked Roy Jones with his hands down by his sides in an attempt to goad the compact Butler into coming forward and dropping his tight, high guard to be inevitably picked off by an onslaught of devastating power, but the Briton would not take the bait as he instead stuck to trainer Joe Gallagher’s disciplined gameplan with only the very briefest of flashes of risky attacking intent.
Though he lost every round comfortably, such a plan to merely survive until the final bell for what would have been taken as at least a moral victory looked likely to work, until the dangerous Inoue stepped up the tempo at the start of the penultimate round.
The pride of Japan rattled in a piercing body shot near the ropes and then sensed his moment at long last, following it up with another fierce barrage to the head that sent a tired Butler down and left him unable to beat the referee’s count.
After making history on the crowning night of his career so far, Inoue quickly expressed his desire to move up for an assault on the super-bantamweight ranks in 2023.
The 122lbs division is currently ruled by America’s undefeated WBC and WBO champion Stephen Fulton, while Uzbek Murodjon Akhmadaliev - an Olympic bronze medalist in 2016 - is the current WBA and IBF title-holder.
On Tuesday’s undercard in Tokyo, 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and 2020 Olympian Peter McGrail from Liverpool moved to 6-0 as a professional with an emphatic second-round stoppage of Hironori Miyake.
Andy Hiraoka successfully defended his WBO Asia Pacific super-lightweight belt with an eighth-round stoppage of South Korean challenger Min Ho Jung, while Yoshiki Takei retained his OPBF super-bantamweight title after a late halt to his bout with the cut Bruno Tarimo.
Landy Cris Leon was beaten by OPBF featherweight champion Satoshi Shimizu, while Naoya’s younger brother Takuma dominated Jake Bornea on a memorable evening for the Inoue fighting family.
