Inoue vs. Kim: Why no buzz?

United Super Bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue's title defense against his backup opponent Ye Jun Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) is two days away and has a surprising zero noise for this fight on Friday, January 24th.

(Credit: Naoki Fakuda)

No buzzing

It's a signal that Japanese star, “The Monster” Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) needs to challenge himself by moving up to featherweight so he can start facing opposition that the rest of the world outside of his native Japan is interested in about.

Inoue is pretty rich, fights whoever he wants, and may not want to take any risks at this point in his career. He's had it easy, winning world titles in four divisions and facing no one as risky as 36-year-old Nonito Donner. Inoe suffered a fractured right orbital bone and a broken nose in their first fight on November 7, 2019. You can only imagine what a younger Donaire would do to Inoue.

The event will be broadcast live on ESPN+ this Friday at 4:15am ET/1:15am PT from Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan. Few US boxing fans will see this fight because they won't want to get up early on Friday to watch what figures to be another mismatch for Inoue. You have to wonder what Top Rank thinks about this fight.

Inoue, 31, was scheduled to defend against his tenure Sam Goodmanbut he escaped with an eye injury. It was just as lackluster a fight as the one with Kim, and the fans weren't interested.

Lightweight options

It's unclear why Naoya stubbornly chooses to stay at 122 to fight obscure opposition instead of going up to 126 to face these killers:

– Rafael Espinoza
– King Vargas
– Bruce Carrington
– Angelo Leo
– Nick Ball
– Brandon Figueroa
– Suleiman Segawa
– Otabek Holmatov

The answer is pretty obvious as to why Inoue is choosing not to move up to featherweight. It's too hard. You could argue that Naoya doesn't want to lose, obviously, and see the bottom fall out of his career. I can't blame him for the easy money coming in without Inoue taking any risks. I would probably do the same. It beats working for a living.

Don't take risks, get easy money and feast on the filet mignon soft opposition for the next ten years before retiring. It's obviously weak, but it's better than getting knocked out at featherweight against one of the killers.