
Naoya Inoue will defend his undisputed super bantamweight crown against Korean challenger Ye Joon Kim on Friday, Jan. 24, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) began his four-belt legacy in December 2022 when he stopped Paul Butler to unify all the bantamweight titles. Then, within a little over a year, the 31-year-old knocked out WBC/WBO champ Stephen Fulton in July 2023 and WBA/IBF king Marlon Tapales that December to achieve undisputed glory in a second weight class.
He made history again last May by headlining the first boxing card at the Tokyo Dome since the historic Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas showdown, overcoming a first-round knockdown before icing former two-division world champion Luis Nery in six. In September, he registered a seventh-round TKO over one-time junior featherweight king TJ Doheny.
Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) turned pro in 2012 and has spent most of his career fighting in his homeland of Korea. He is a former IBF Asia super bantamweight champion who has won two straight since a majority decision defeat to veteran Rob Diezel in Auburn, Washington.
Kim won the WBO Oriental super bantamweight crown last May in Bangkok, Thailand, knocking out Rakesh Lohchab in the fifth round. Top marks to him for courageously and intrepidly stepping into the breach.
Both fighters passed the official weigh-in each registering 121.7 pounds.
Inoue-Kim and the welterweight co-main event between Jin Sasaki and Shoki Sakai will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ beginning at 4:15 a.m. ET/1:15 a.m. PT.T.
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