By now the injury must have been dealt already and overtime its already cured. If its not the fist that's broken, it wouldn't be a big deal in the fight. Inoue is not old yet, there is no way he can't get used to the weight after few months.
One more advantage with this fight is that Fulton vs Inoue fight will be held in Japan. He'll do his best to impress his fellow country men to give them an spectacular KO.
On paper, it seems that almost all advantages are pointing towards Naoya Inoue, leaving the current 2-belt champion, Steph Fulton, as the underdog in their upcoming bout.
Personally, I cannot really bring myself to oppose whatever is laid in-front of us now and favor the champion because even if Inoue is just the challenger here in Fulton's division and this is his first fight at 122, it's just real hard to go for the opposite way and bet against the crowd favorite.
It might be hard to think about the possible outcome for now because I also don't want to underestimate Fulton, but in this instance, I will go with the Japanese monster.
It isn't just the crowd but the talent and ability of Inoue speaks for itself. Inoue had a flawless performance in 118 lbs, and 122 is just one division higher, and the time he moves to 122 lbs, he is already having a hard time to catch up with the 118 lbs weight requirement. So the moving up in division of Inoue is believed to be the perfect timing and is due. I also think that there will be no reduction on Inoue's speed and reaction plus his punching power will increase due to added mass which make Inoue more deadly.
That is the reason I think why Fulton is underdog despite of being a champion and good record in this coming fight.
Considering that Inoue's having an issue with reducing his weight means that he will be more comfortable in this division, that will give him
more solid power punch and in terms of quickness, it's not a big deal for him.
122lbs is just a division away from his previous weight, so the adjustment is not that hard, plus the fact that he will be fighting in front of his own
fans, that adds inspirations and by culture we know pride is really important to every Japanese fighter.
Inoue can use that as an additional boost to hype his performance and to win these fights.
Might be easy to say because we are not the ones who are fighting directly against Steph Fulton who have been owning the division for quite some years now but for Inoue, he's not taking it easy because after all, this is not his division and it's not yet guaranteed that he will perform impressively in this division compared to what we saw him while he was still at 118. But you got some points, it's just a 4 pounds heavier compared to bantamweight so I guess he will not be having some troubles in this division.
That is what I think, from the way the Japanese fight, I would say that this category doesn't matter so much right now, I know that the blows will hurt more, that his training must be harder but that he has everything he needs to doing it is a genius boxer for me, Fulton may be the owner and lord of this category, but let's be clear, here in boxing skill + intelligence + strength wins, each one has the technique and they may want to copy some of the techniques of some, but here who uses the strategies well is the one who wins.
If Fulton will win and Inoue will stay on this current division, the chance of seeing Casimero vs Inoue might take place,
it's possible since the belt will be vacant once Fulton move up.
If inoue losses against Fulton is ranking will surely goes down, while Casimero's rank goes up, it is an obvious feat that they will meet halfway but the problem lies on the promoter and manager. No matter how close they are in ranking if the promoter is against' the deal of the fight, then we cannot see them fighting.
Though if ever Inoue will win, then the chance to see Tapales to be his next target is possible by knowing Inoue, he wanted
to unify all belts.
I read somewhere that Tapales wanted Inoue to win because Inoue's style suits Tapales' boxing style. They said that Tapales will be having a hard time facing Fulton since Fulton does not brawl and often times box his way through the fight.
Well, the important thing is that Inoue can show himself as he really is, for me he is one of the best boxers in the world, no matter what category they put him in, he will always train and stay at the level they need, if they want him to. Segro's story will beat Fulton , on the other hand, Casimero, the fight with Casimero is already making noise and we haven't even seen Inoue debut, so we can't do things like that either, we must wait and see how it Develops, but he won't do future fights It's a good option, least of all not for now , we have to wait to See if the fight will finally take Place with Fulton First.