Naoya Inoue vs. Paul Butler, billed as ''Undisputed'', was a

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

unification

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...

match contested between

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

, WBC,

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

, and '' The Ring'' champion,

Naoya Inoue is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a three-division world champion and currently the undisputed bantamweight world champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, ''Ring'' magazine titles since 2019, the WBC title since June 2022, and the W ...

, and WBO champion, Paul Butler. Inoue knocked out Butler and became the undisputed bantamweight champion and the first since

Enrique Pinder Enrique Pinder (born August 7, 1947) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1966 until 1973. He held the undisputed WBA, WBC, and ''The Ring'' bantamweight titles from 1972 to 1973. Professional career In 1966, Pinder be ...

beat

Rafael Herrera Rafael Herrera (born 7 January 1945) is a Mexican former professional boxer. He has won the Lineal championship in the bantamweight division. Professional career Herrera turned pro in 1963 and in 1972 defeated Rubén Olivares by TKO to capture t ...

in 1972. The bout took place on 13 December 2022, at

Ariake Arena The Ariake Arena is a multi-sport venue located in Ariake, Tokyo, Japan. It served as the volleyball venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the wheelchair basketball knockout stage at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. This was the replacement of the D ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan.

Background

Naoya Inoue emerged as the winner of the 2018–19 World Boxing Super Series, when he defeated WBA (Super) champion

Nonito Donaire Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. (; ; born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a b ...

in the final via

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

on 7 November 2019 to unify the WBA (Super), IBF and ''The Ring'' bantamweight titles. Inoue would defend his unified titles three times – against challengers

Jason Moloney Jason Moloney (born 10 January 1991) is an Australian professional boxer who challenged twice for the IBF bantamweight title. At regional level, he has held the WBA Oceania bantamweight title since 2017 and held the Commonwealth bantamweight t ...

Michael Dasmariñas Michael Alber Dasmariñas is a Filipino professional boxer who held the IBO bantamweight title in 2018. He also challenged for the IBO super-flyweight title in 2014 and the unified WBA (Super), IBF, and '' The Ring'' bantamweight titles in 202 ...

and Aran Dipaen – before facing Donaire, who had since won the WBC title, in a rematch on 7 June 2022. Inoue prevailed via second-round technical knockout to unify three of the four major world titles in the bantamweight division and retain his undefeated record.

John Riel Casimero John Riel Reponte Casimero (born February 13, 1989) is a Philippines, Filipino professional boxer and YouTuber. He has held Triple champion#Boxing, world championships in three weight classes; including the IBF junior-flyweight title from 2012 t ...

had captured the WBO bantamweight title on 30 November 2019 with a third-round technical knockout victory over

Zolani Tete Zolani Tete (born 8 March 1988) is a South African professional boxer. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019. Early life and ...

, and a unification clash between Inoue and Casimero had been scheduled for 25 April 2020; however, the fight was ultimately cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Casimero reigned as the WBO champion until 4 May 2022, when he was stripped by the WBO after twice failing to defend the title against

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

Paul Butler. Butler, who had defeated

Jonas Sultan Jonas Sultan (born December 16, 1991) is a Filipino professional boxer, former IBF World title challenger. He is the current WBO Inter-continental bantamweight champion. He held the IBF Inter-continental junior bantamweight title since December ...

via unanimous decision twelve days earlier to win the WBO

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

title, was elevated to become the full WBO champion, making him a two-time bantamweight champion, having previously held the IBF title in 2014.

Fight card

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inoue, Butler Boxing matches Boxing in Japan 2022 in boxing 2022 in Japanese sport December 2022 sports events in Japan