Boxing Challenge

Early in the morning from Tokyo, there will be a unified four-title champion in the bantamweight division for the first time ever as prohibitive favorite Naoya Inoue defends his WBA, WBC, and IBF championship against WBO champion Paul Butler in what can only be considered an anti-climax to Inoue's achievement in unifying the championship.

Inoue added his third title (WBC) when he rolled through the only fighter given a slim chance of defeating him in Nonito Donaire in two rounds in June and has announced that after this fight, he will vacate the titles to move to junior featherweight.

Butler won the vacant WBO title (and the right for a career-high payday to "do the job, "ahem" unify the titles) with a unanimous decision over Jonas Sultan in April.

Butler had several attempts against John Riel Casimero for that title fall through for various reasons before the WBO finally stripped Casimero of the title.

Casimero had a unification bout scheduled against Inoue previously before the fight fell through due to the Covid-19 pandemic and while Casimero may have had only a marginally larger chance to defeat Inoue than Butler, an Inoue-Casimero fight would have been explosive for as long as it lasted.

Butler did hold the IBF title in 2014 with a split decision over countryman Stuart Hall before vacating that title to move down to the junior bantamweight division, losing in eight rounds to champion Zolani Tete and his top opponent since that loss was losing almost every round to Emmanuel Rodriguez in a challenge for the IBF title in 2018.

 

So is Butler lucky to cash in his title for a career-high purse? 

Or is this the case for a European-level boxer that is in a total mismatch that could see Butler hurt?

Likely, it's both.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: Inoue KO 6

TRS: Inoue KO 2

Vince Samano: Inoue KO 7