Naoya Inoue Set For US (Re)Debut

Sources tell Brunch Boxing that pound-for-pound king, “The Monster” Naoya Inoue is planning to return to the United States to fight in 2025. The plan calls for Inoue to stage two bouts stateside, with Madison Square Garden in New York City being tabbed for one of the locations. Inoue previously fought in the US on three separate occasions, but all three times were met with little fanfare and did nothing to raise the profile of the now boxing superstar. Inoue’s US promoter, Top Rank, did not see a need or show a knowhow on how to build Inoue into a superstar in the US, as he is already a superstar in his native country of Japan. For his part, Inoue has always been receptive about returning stateside to fight, but only for the right fight.

That all changed when Inoue visited New York City during Puerto Rican Parade weekend. Inoue was swarmed by hordes of fans wherever he went, in a scene similar to Beatlemania. Brunch Boxing was in attendance when Inoue entered the theater at Madison Square Garden, during the June 8 Top Rank Card headlined by Xander Zayas and the buzz in the arena was palpable. Fans were looking to just get a glimpse of the Japanese superstar. Inoue was visibly overwhelmed by the love and support he received. This renewed interest by Top Rank in bringing Inoue back to the United States for a redo.

Let’s examine the potential opponents for Inoue’s US return bouts:

Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (12-0, 8 KOs)

The sentiment within Top Rank is that Carrington, 27, is in the put-up-or-shut-up part of his career. Carrington, now the #1 contender for the WBA featherweight title, would need to grab the title from current champion Nick Ball to make a matchup with Inoue appealing. Top Rank has noticeably begun to include Carrington in their boxing telecasts as a way to build a profile for the 27-year-old prospect.

Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs)

The WBO featherweight champion, Espinoza is coming off a spectacular knockout victory over Chirino Sanchez in the main event of the June 21 Top Rank on ESPN card in Vegas. Espinoza will likely rematch Robeisy Ramirez, whom he won his WBO title from, next. A unification bout with Luis Lopez would go a long way towards building a potential Inoue fight.

Luis Alberto “Venado” Lopez (30-2, 17 KOs)

Lopez has been on quite a run, following his upset victory over Josh Warrington in 2022. He’s won three more fights in a row and is starting to build momentum as a viable opponent for Inoue. Lopez goes up against former WBO super bantamweight champion, Angelo Leo, on August 10 and will look to continue that momentum. Ideally, Lopez and Espinoza would look to unify to make an Inoue fight even bigger.

Bam Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs)

Rodriguez is coming off an impressive, career-defining victory over Mexican legend, Juan Francisco Estrada for the WBC super flyweight title. Rodriguez folded Estrada with a perfect body shot to the stomach in a fight of the year candidate. After the fight, Rodriguez said of a potential Inoue matchup, “I know people want that but let’s be real, right now it’s a fantasy fight. I’ve gotta work my way up. He’s at 122 lbs right now, I’m at 115 lbs. I’ve got business to handle at this weight class… I want the winner of Kazuto Ioka vs Fernando Martinez.” The now former champion, Estrada, has a rematch clause, which he is expected to activate. However, that is 2024. 2025 could hold the possibility of a showdown between the two top 5 pound-for-pound fighters.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0, 28 KOs)

The current WBA lightweight champion, Davis is coming off a spectacular knockout victory over lightweight contender Frank Martin. Davis and Inoue are currently 13 pounds apart, but a meeting between the two boxing superstars could be viable at super featherweight. This would be THE fight in boxing and a financial bonanza for all involved. In an interview with Brunch Boxing, PBC Director Kenneth Bouhairie was not dismissive of the idea of an Inoue vs Davis mega event, saying “I think Inoue is that kinda fighter… Maybe it’ll happen. It would be a great fight if it did.” Davis’ immediate plans seem to be a unification bout with IBF lightweight champion, Vasyl Lomachenko in November. Should Davis come through that bout, a Davis vs Inoue bout in late 2025 would be the biggest fight in boxing since Mayweather-Pacquiao.