Naoya Inoue won’t be able to create as much history in 2024 as he has in his later years.
However, the big event plans you have in store for next year could make you even richer.
Hideyuki Ohashi, Inoue’s longtime promoter and head of Ohashi Promotions, revealed plans to bring the four-division champion to the famed Tokyo Dome at least for his next fight in Japan. A trip to the Middle East could also be in the cards for Inoue’s next campaign.
“For [Inoue’s] For the next fight, I am thinking about bigger venues and also Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Ohashi told members of the media on Wednesday. “The Tokyo Dome is an option.”
Concern about fighting in front of a limited audience arose after Inoue’s 10th-round knockout of Marlon Tapales on Tuesday to completely unify the junior featherweight division. The historic event took place in front of a packed crowd of 15,000 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena. The same venue has hosted each of Inoue’s last three fights, each time leaving more fans on the waiting list than could be allowed in.
The Tokyo Dome has a capacity for 55,000 seats. The venue has only hosted two major boxing events, both headlined by then-undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, including his monstrous February 1990 knockout loss to Buster Douglas in what remains the benchmark for historical boxing surprises.
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Inoue and his team are currently in talks for a fight against WBC mandatory challenger and former two-division champion Luis Nery. The fight is scheduled for next May.
With a win, Mr. Ohashi signaled the possibility of a title defense against WBA number one contender Murodjon Akhmadaliev, whom Tapales dethroned to win the WBA and IBF titles in April, for Inoue’s debut. in the Middle East. Such a fight would take place in September.
Inoue himself floated the idea of a voluntary title defense against former three-division champion John Riel Casimero as a third fight for 2024. Mr. Ohashi was not as enthusiastic about the matchup, although Inoue sees the matchup as unfinished business. ; They were due to meet in a bantamweight unification clash in April 2020 in Las Vegas, which was canceled due to the initial wave of the global pandemic.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox
