YOKOHAMA — Japan’s Naoya Inoue announced Wednesday that he will attempt to become an undisputed world champion in a second weight division by fighting Marlon Tapales in December when all four super-bantamweight belts will be at stake.
The boxer known as “Monster” last year became the first undisputed bantamweight world champion in half a century, before vacating his belts to move up to super-bantamweight.
He beat American Stephen Fulton in his first fight at the new weight to claim the WBC and WBO titles in July and he will try to complete the set in Tokyo on December 26 against the IBF and WBA champion Tapales, from the Philippines.
“I want to show my overwhelming power and win, even in a fight like this where becoming undisputed champion in a second division is on the line,” the undefeated 30-year-old said.
“I want to knock him out,” added Inoue, who has a perfect 25-win record with 22 KOs.
The 31-year-old Tapales (37-3, 19 KOs) upset Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev by split decision in April to win the IBF and WBA titles.
Inoue welcomed him into the ring after he knocked out Fulton and the Japanese fighter said he would not be taking his next opponent lightly.
“I hadn’t really seen much of Tapales’s fights but my impression was that he was a tough fighter,” said Inoue.
“Then when I looked at his fights, my impression of him completely changed — he defends very well and he has a lot more technique than I first gave him credit for.”
Inoue knocked out England’s Paul Butler in December last year to become the first undisputed bantamweight world champion since Panama’s Enrique Pinder in 1972.
He also became only the ninth undisputed world champion since the four-belt era began in 2004, and the first in the bantamweight division.
American Terence Crawford became the first man to win all the belts in two weight divisions when he beat Errol Spence to claim the undisputed welterweight world title in July.
Inoue has the chance to match him just 12 months after completing his rampage through the bantamweight division.
“It took me over four years to win all the bantamweight belts but it looks like I can win all the super-bantamweight titles within 2023,” he said.
“I’m really glad that I’ve been able to quickly make up for the time I lost to the coronavirus pandemic.”