Naoya Inoue is preparing himself for a huge fight in December even if an opponent has not been confirmed.
Following the Japanese’s win over Stephen Fulton to secure the latter’s WBC/WBO junior featherweight titles, Inoue was targeting an undisputed fight with Marlon Tapales, who holds the IBF/WBA belts. A fight between the two has been in the offing, even if a date has not been announced, as there is an expectation that it will take place in December in Japan. After all, after Inoue’s win over Fulton, both fighters entered the ring with the intention of making the fight.
And by the looks of it, Inoue is putting in the hard yards in anticipation of that fight. The following images show Inoue in peak condition after a training session: “One week of intense training has ended. I had a good training session and am ready to switch on for December,” Inoue
1週間の集中強化トレーニングが終了しました！！
良いトレーニングが出来て12月に向けてスイッチオン🔛参加してくれたみんなありがとう！！
#👑👑👑👑 pic.twitter.com/01s1lUBREM— 井上尚弥 Naoya Inoue (@naoyainoue_410) September 29, 2023
A win for Inoue would put him in the conversation for being one of the best of all time. A win makes Inoue the second male boxer to become undisputed in a second weight class, following Terence Crawford’s achievements. On top of that, Inoue would become the third boxer of all time to achieve the feat following Claressa Shields’ win over Savannah Marshall, which made her undisputed in two weight classes: junior middleweight and middleweight. And with so much on the line, it could be the biggest fight of Inoue’s career, provided that terms are agreed.