{"id":567691,"date":"2026-05-05T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/567691\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:33:10","slug":"bob-arum-questions-naoya-inoue-move-to-126-after-nakatani-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/567691\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Arum Questions Naoya Inoue Move To 126 After Nakatani Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was blunt regarding the 33-year-old\u2019s prospects north of junior featherweight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think Inoue would do too well if he went to 126,\u201d Arum told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringmagazine.com\/news\/top-rank-chiefs-arum-duboef-question-inoues-featherweight-credentials-7Dx0FPbc12EuqX51yYPEf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Ring<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This is a cold assessment by the promoters of the dangerous opposition that currently occupies the featherweight division. Top Rank president Todd duBoef specifically highlighted WBO champion Rafael Espinoza as a bridge too far for the Japanese icon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I\u2019m not sure Inoue wants to move up to featherweight and try to chew off someone like Rafael Espinoza, who\u2019s even bigger physically than Nakatani,\u201d duBoef said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure that\u2019s a good matchup at this point in his career. I think Inoue has probably hit his maximum weight at 122 pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The caution stems from what was witnessed during the Nakatani fight. While Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs) secured the win, the data tells a story of a closer contest than the 116-112 and 115-113 scorecards suggest.<\/p>\n<p>Inoue outlanded Nakatani by only 20 punches (140-120). Nakatani rallied in the second half, exposing a vulnerability in Inoue\u2019s ability to dominate a naturally larger, methodical opponent over 12 rounds.<\/p>\n<p>Nakatani fought through a fractured left orbital bone. Had that injury not occurred, the championship rounds could have tilted even further in the challenger\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n<p>If Inoue struggled to impose his will on Nakatani, a fighter coming up from 118, the elite at 126 pounds represent a different tier of danger.<\/p>\n<p>Standing at nearly 6\u20191\u2033, the Rafael \u2018Divino\u2019 Espinoza possesses a freakish reach and height advantage that would force Inoue to fight an uphill battle for 36 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Inoue\u2019s past opponents, natural featherweights like Espinoza, Bruce Carrington, and Angelo Leo won\u2019t fold under his power. They have the physical dimensions to absorb the \u201cMonster\u2019s\u201d best shots and the leverage to fire back with interest.<\/p>\n<p>In Japan, Inoue is a \u201csuper being\u201d on the level of Shohei Ohtani. He sold out the Tokyo Dome with 55,000 fans, proving he doesn\u2019t need the U.S. market to remain the highest-earning sub-lightweight in boxing history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was blunt regarding the 33-year-old\u2019s prospects north of junior featherweight. \u201cI don\u2019t think&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-567691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}