Highly rated pound-for-pound fighter Naoya Inoue posted a defiant message on social media, rejecting the idea that he needs to fight instead of staying in Japan, and if they want to fight him, they need to come there.
With this attitude, I can see what Top Rank is up against, trying to turn Inoue into a star in the U.S. Top Rank is never going to turn Inoue into a star with him resisting the idea of fighting in America, and you can only wonder why he’s so resistant. Is it fear?
Fear Factor? Why Inoue Avoids the U.S.
Undisputed super bantamweight champion Monster Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) says if fighters want to fight him, they have to come to Japan. This stubborn, intractable stance shows that Inoue is inflexible and unwilling to change his mind about coming to the U.S. to become a star there.
Inoue must know that if he comes to the U.S., he’ll be expected to risk his hide fighting opposition, which will put him under fire, and he will lose. That wouldn’t help Inoue at home in Japan, with his fans seeing him get beaten repeatedly in the U.S.
The 31-year-old Inoue fails to grasp that he will NOT become a star in the United States unless he fights there and faces much better opposition than the guys he’s been fighting his entire 12-year professional career.
“In response to the comment saying he should come to America and [fight]. The home of the lightweight division [super bantamweight] is now here in Japan. If you want to see the game, come to Japan,” said Naoya Inoue on X.
“If there is something better than what is available in the Japanese market in America, I would be happy to go. That’s all worth it here in Japan.”
Reality Check: Super Bantamweight’s Limited Appeal
Casual American fans don’t care about the super bantamweight division [122] that Inoue competes at, and the weight class will continue to be ignored as long as no one popular goes there to fight.
Inoue’s habit of facing anonymous with marginal talent isn’t going to help him become a star in the U.S. unless he fights there and faces high-level opposition. He hasn’t been doing that, though, so he’s not become a big name in the States.
ESPN’s Hype Machine Isn’t Enough
ESPN commentators make a big deal about Inoue, praising him, but that hasn’t helped him become a star because he hasn’t fought anyone good besides Stephen Fulton, who wasn’t well-known by casual fans. Only hardcore fans know who Fulton is, and he’d only recently become known to them.
Inoue will defend his four 122-lb titles next month against the recently knocked-out Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs) on May 6th at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
U.S. fans aren’t excited about this fight, noting that Nery was knocked out by Brandon Figueroa several years ago and has faced nothing but low-level opposition ever since.
Fans see Inoue’s choice of Luis Nery as his opponent as another example of his cherry-picking a soft opponent while ignoring the killers in the 126, 130, and 135 lb weight classes that would be a nightmare for him.