Naoya Inoue has conquered bantamweight and super bantamweight, becoming only the second man to Terence Crawford to accomplish two undisputed world championship reigns in two different weight classes during boxing’s modern four-belt era.
On January 24, Inoue will look to defend his undisputed super bantamweight crown against mandatory challenger Sam Goodman in Tokyo.
If successful in that defense, another challenge could tempt the 31-year-old and that brings us to DAZN’s fifth New Year’s Resolution for boxing in 2025:
For Inoue to go for an unprecedented third undisputed crown
A successful outing against Goodman on January 24 and Inoue will have recorded his third defense of his undisputed super bantamweight world championship.
Perhaps then, the 31-year-old Japanese sensation can stare down scratching off his next historic feat.
A move up to featherweight would put “The Monster” in position to vie for an unprecedented third undisputed crown in a third weight class. Crawford (super lightweight and welterweight), Inoue (bantamweight and super bantamweight) and Oleksandr Usyk (cruiserweight and heavyweight) are the only males in boxing history to reach undisputed glory in two different weight classes, but “The Monster” can stand alone as the first in the modern four-belt era to clinch the feat in a third weight class — if he moves up to featherweight.
"When I’m ready to go up the weights, and when my body is ready to do that," Inoue told ESPN this past summer about a timetable on making the jump up from 122 pounds to 126 pounds.
Getty Images
The featherweight division would also give Inoue some new, intriguing dance partners in the form of WBC champion Brandon Figueroa, WBA titleholder Nick Ball, IBF champ Angelo Leo and WBO titleholder Rafael Espinoza.
Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs), who defends his WBC featherweight title against Stephen Fulton Jr. in a rematch February 1, has been vocal about unceremoniously welcoming the undefeated Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) up to the division.
Interestingly enough, Fulton counts the one blemish on Figueroa’s ledger — a majority-decision loss in November 2021. Fulton then suffered a devastating loss at the hands of Inoue via an eighth-round TKO in July 2023.
If Figueroa avenges his sole loss to Fulton, perhaps he could draw confidence from the point that he knocked out Luis Nery in May 2021. Nery tendered Inoue the only knockdown of his career, though “The Monster” rebounded from being dropped to knock Nery out in the sixth round last May.
“First I got to take care of business against Stephen Fulton but after that I feel like this is my division,” Figueroa told a pool of reporters last month . “I feel like the 126-pound division is mine and I’m going to prove that whether I fight whoever.”
He added about a possible showdown with Inoue: “I’m a unique fighter. I can fight lefty, righty, I can box, brawl, I can fight you on the inside, on the outside, so I can pretty much do it all. It’s all a part of how me and my team assess that fight and how we train for that gameplan.”
That style would mesh well with Inoue, considering the Japanese superstar’s ability to time powerful, slashing punches with precision toward disastrous results for his opponents who have become victims on his ever-growing highlight reel.
A punctuating win over Goodman and leap up to featherweight will mark the push-button start toward a monstrous 2025 for Inoue.