Naoya Inoue climbs the ropes in celebration after his Might 6 knockout win over Luis Nery at Tokyo Dome. Picture Credit score: Naoki Fukuda
Naoya Inoue formally has his marching orders.
The RING and undisputed 122-pound king was ordered to subsequent face WBA necessary challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev. Each events have been instructed to enter a 30-day negotiation interval to achieve phrases.
“The World Boxing Affiliation (WBA) Championships Committee ordered the necessary bout,” the sanctioning physique introduced on Thursday. “The pioneer group despatched the official communication to the events.. and gave them 30 days to barter, which is able to finish on July 14.”
Inoue is co-promoted by Ohashi Promotions and High Rank. Akhmadaliev is with Matchroom Boxing and World of Boxing.
Per WBA Championships Rule C.10, titlists should honor his necessary inside 9 months from once they claimed the belt. Inoue (27-0, 24 knockouts) totally unified the division when he knocked out Marlon Tapales (38-4, 20 KOs) within the tenth spherical final December 26 in Tokyo. The Ring’s No. 2-rated pound-for-pound fighter defended his WBC and WBO titles whereas he earned the WBA and IBF belts.
Yokohama’s Inoue additionally re-established Ring championship lineage with the win.
He adopted up with an exciting sixth-round knockout of Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) on Might 6 on the Tokyo Dome. Inoue needed to survive the primary knockdown of his profession—within the opening spherical—to storm again and brutalize Nery into submission.
IBF necessary challenger Sam Goodman (18-0, 8 KOs) was ringside and made some extent to demand a struggle with Inoue. The unbeaten Aussie contender has softened his stance and can as a substitute pursue a stay-busy struggle. The information has destroyed the web credibility of Nadim Haddad, his best hype man.
10 months of pesting Inoue underneath his posts! I even needed to discover ways to converse Japanese, however we’re right here now. Sam Goodman 118-110 incoming. There can be one scare second within the struggle, however I feel Inoue will climate the storm and see the space. #InoueGoodman https://t.co/g9t4nmN2cV
— Nadim Haddad (@NadimElHaddad1) Might 6, 2024
Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs) beforehand held the WBA and IBF belts.
The 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist dethroned Daniel Roman by way of break up resolution of their January 2020 thriller in Miami Gardens, Florida. Simply three defenses adopted in a reign stalled by accidents and sickness.
Akhmadaliev misplaced the belts to Tapales in a disputed break up resolution final April 8 in San Antonio, Texas. He instantly made his approach again to necessary challenger standing one struggle later. Akhmadaliev stopped unbeaten Kevin Gonzalez within the eighth-round of their WBA title eliminator final December 16 in Glendale, Arizona.
Inoue beforehand talked about Akhmadaliev as a part of his three-fight plan for 2024, all at junior featherweight.
The hope is to stage the struggle in September. Nonetheless it’s seemingly now not a part of Turki Alalshikh’s first present in the UK.
Inoue has gained titles at 108, 115, 118 and 122. He grew to become Japan’s first-ever undisputed champion within the four-belt period when he totally unified the bantamweight division. One struggle later, Inoue was the primary Japanese fighter to win main titles in 4 divisions with a one-sided knockout win over Stephen Fulton final July.
The WBC/WBO 122-pound title win noticed Inoue additionally turn into Japan’s first two-division unified titlist. He added extra historical past for his nation along with his win over Tapales to say undisputed championship standing in two weight divisions.
Jake Donovan a senior author for The Ring and vice chairman of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.
Observe @JakeNDaBox
