Naoya Inoue has reportedly signed a massive $19.7 million sponsorship deal with Riyadh Season. The undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) could end up in some interesting fights if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh can encourage him.
Yahoo Japan is reporting the signing by 31-year-old Inoue, who signed a lucrative deal with Turki Alalshikh. Inoue is scheduled to defend his undisputed against Sam Goodman on December 24th at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
Turki will want to put together great fights, and it would be excellent if he could choose the top fighters from the 126-, 130, and 135 for Inoue to fight.
“Inoue is the best and strongest boxer of all time,” Alalshikh said in a statement. “He has a keen interest in Japan and the Japanese market. I hope he will become a good and important ambassador for Saudi Arabia and the Riyadh Season.”
Inoue Needs to Take Risky Fights
Turki hasn’t said whether Inoue will be competing on his cards in Riyadh, but that would be why he would sign him to a lucrative deal. Inoue is defending against Goodman next, but that’s not a high-profile match that will attract interest worldwide.
To get fans excited about ‘Monster’ Inoue fighting in Riyadh, he needs to face someone who will make him the underdog for a change. He’s ALWAYS been the favorite in his fights, and that’s boring to the fans because there’s no drama involved.
His Excellency needs to put Inoue in a situation where he WON’T be the favorite, which would be against Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson, and Vasily Lomachenko. It’s not good enough for Inoue to fight Junto Nakatani.
Inoue will be the favorite in that fight, too, and that won’t get fans outside of Japan excited. I say, throw Inoue in with Tank, Shakur, and Loma. Let’s see how he does against fighters, where he’ll be an underdog for the first time.
Inoue’s signing could mean that he’ll fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, rather than elsewhere like the U.S. Fans want to see better fights for him against fighters from the featherweight division, but Inoue hasn’t made the risky move with his career.
If Turki can persuade Inoue to face more compelling opposition at 126 or 135, that would be a great way for the Japanese star to earn the $19M deal.
The criticism that fans have given Inoue is that he’s fought opposition that wasn’t considered elite, and he’s chosen to stay in a weak division at 122 rather than move up to featherweight to face better fighters. People want to see Inoue fight elite fighters like Gervonta Davis, Rafael Espinoza, Nick Ball, Robeisy Ramirez, and Brandon Figueroa.
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— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) November 4, 2024