Paul Butler paid tribute to Naoya Inoue after seeing his hopes of becoming boxing's first undisputed bantamweight champion in 50 years end in heartbreak.
The unbeaten Japanese fighter, who improves his professional record to 24-0 (21 KOs), knocked Butler down in the 11th round of the contest in Tokyo. After falling to the canvas, the 34-year-old shook his head as he attempted to rise from his knees, before lying flat on his back as referee Bence Kovacs waved the contest off.
And speaking post-fight, the 'Baby Faced Assassin' paid tribute to Inoue and acknowledged that he fell short against the 29-year-old. He said: “You can see the punches coming but sometimes you can’t react quick enough to get out of the way, because he is that fast.
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“That’s what really good fighters do — they have good timing, good accuracy and good speed, and sometimes you just can’t get out of the way of that.
“He’s quite ignorant in his defence. He knows he’s got punching power and he knows he’s got a good chin himself. Maybe when he goes up the weights, not that he’ll come unstuck but I think he’ll have a little bit more to think about.”
After the bout, Inoue took the opportunity to declare his historic victory as the 'final chapter' of his bantamweight career and also praised Butler for making the trip over to Japan.
“This has been a long journey for me but this is the final chapter at bantamweight and I have made it. Now I consider to change my division,” Inoue said.
Before he continued: “Thanks to Butler for coming to Japan, I could not have done this without him and I commend him. I anticipated a longer bout and I was able to show you more, so I am happy. I am satisfied with boxing longer than usual today.”
While Inoue, who broke Butler's resistance with a juddering body shot, praised the Liverpool fan for his 'thorough game plan'.
“He tried to get through the first half and then make it a contest from the middle of the fight onwards,” he said. "I expected that but he had a good plan to stop me. I had to change my own style and try to coax him out.
“This is not the goal. Tonight was something great to see with the fans from where I was standing in the ring, but this is just a point along the way. Do I feel satisfied? I am satisfied but I want to turn my mind to what comes next.”
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