Sports

Inoue to fight Butler for undisputed bantamweight crown in December

Oct 14 (Japan Today) - Japan's Naoya Inoue announced Thursday that he will fight Britain's Paul Butler in December when all four bantamweight world championship belts will be at stake.

The 29-year-old Inoue, nicknamed "Monster", holds the WBC, WBA and IBF bantamweight belts and is aiming to become undisputed world champion by capturing Butler's WBO title on December 13 in Tokyo.

"I want my name to go down in international boxing history, and to change Japan's boxing history," the unbeaten star said at a press conference to announce the showdown.

"Paul Butler is an extremely well-rounded fighter, with no obvious weak points," Inoue said. "In the fight, I want to weaken him little by little with my boxing, before taking him down. I will demonstrate the overwhelming difference in strength between us, and unify the four organizations."

A victory would make Inoue the first undisputed world champion from Asia and only the ninth since the four-belt era began in 2004. ...continue reading

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