Inoue-Oubaali would be amazing in 2020

Naoya “Monster” Inoue made waves Thursday morning with his victory over future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire in a great finale to unify the bantamweight titles at the World Boxing Super Series.

Inoue (19-0, 16 KOs)  parlayed that feat with the announcement that he signed with promotional outlet Top Rank Boxing to begin promotion of his future fights starting in 2020. The jump onto Top Rank opens up a world of possibilities and match ups and I wanted to touch on a few that would not be attainable but also possible for the unified champ in 2020.

The first fight for Inoue is a no-brainier to anyone that has been following the bantamweight division. That would be a date with  WBC champion Nordine Oubaali. This in all likelihood should be the next bout for both of them. Oubaali was in action on the same night in Japan beating Inoue’s younger brother Takama in the co-main event to retain his WBC title.

Back in May, I’ve written here how Oubaali wanted to take on Inoue.

“I hope to fight Inoue soon. For this next fight, I’ll make a voluntary, then I’ll box my mandatory challenger but after that, why wouldn’t I fight Inoue? It’ll be good for me. said Oubaali in May.

Well, Oubaali has made good on his end in taking care of voluntary Arthur Villanueva in Kazakhstan back in May and the mandatory in the younger Inoue tonight. The next man up for him is the ‘Monster’

With Top Rank and ESPN big on story angles leading up to fights, what story is there a better one to tell than getting revenge for your younger brother’s loss in pursuit of gaining another belt at 118 pounds in the process? Not only would that angle sell itself, it also would be one of the fights that boxing fans would need to mark on their calendars for 2020 when it is slated.