Naoya Inoue Wipes Out Paul Butler In 11 Rounds

Japan’s Naoya Inoue made history in the bantamweight division on Tuesday night, as he added the WBO world title to his other unified championships by dominating and knocking out England’s Paul Butler in the 11th round.

The Ariake Arena in Tokyo was the site of the Tuesday night show, as Inoue made easy work of the lightly regarded Butler, eventually finishing him with a massive combination of shots at 1:09 of the 11th round.

🏆🏆🏆🏆@NaoyaInoue_410 x #InoueButler pic.twitter.com/o6ZUJDQtFY

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022

Inoue, who’s regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world, used a steady barrage of hard body punches throughout the bout, particularly left hands to control the fight.

Butler, who was elevated to WBO world champ status earlier this year after winning an interim title decision of Jonas Sultan, kept his guard high defensively, but didn’t look to do much offensively throughout the bout.

Inoue, now 24-0, 21 KOs, was content to take opportunities at target practice by trapping the Englishman in the corner using four and five punch combos to the head and body to score. He also scored particularly well at range with his straight right hand to help him keep control of the bout.

Just when it looked like Butler, now 34-3, might survive the distance, Inoue dispatched Butler with a big six punch combination along the ropes culminating with a hard left hand that dropped Butler onto his left side. He was unable to beat the count just over a minute into the 11th and the fight was over.

“I’m glad that I finally became the undisputed bantamweight champion,” Inoue said in the ring through an interpreter post fight. “This was a long journey for me…I finally made it. I was able to make this the pinnacle of becoming undisputed champion. And now, I’m considering to change my division to the super bantamweight class.

“Since super flyweight I have been aiming at achieving this. There have been some boundaries from the organizations. But, on this day, I made it my greatest moment. Thank you to the Butler camp…. I anticipated this bout would become longer than usual and I am very satisfied that I boxed longer than usual today.”

With the win Inoue improved to a staggering 19-0, 17 KOs in world title fights in his career. It was Inoue’s second victory of 2022, as he had destroyed Nonito Donaire in a rematch by second round KO in June. That win added the WBC 118 lb. title to the WBA/IBF belts “The Monster” already held.

Inoue is not only the first fighter to win all four world title belts in bantamweight history, but he’s also the first Asian fighter at any weight class to be a four belt undisputed champion. And, he’s now the 11th fighter to hold the WBC/WBA/IBF and WBO world titles simultaneously.

He joins the likes recently of Mexican Canelo Alvarez at 168 lb., Texan Jermell Charlo at 154 lb. and Scotland’s Josh Taylor at 140 lb.

Inoue may get a title bout immediately at 122 lb. where American Stephen Fulton has the WBC/WBO titles.