Report: Naoya Inoue's Title Fight vs. Stephen Fulton Postponed Due to Injury

Former undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue was set to move up a weight class to challenge Stephen Fulton for his unified super bantamweight titles, but the highly anticipated bout has been put on hold.

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, Inoue suffered an injury while training that will force the fight against Fulton, which was originally scheduled for May 7 in Japan, to be postponed to later this summer.

Coppinger added that while the nature of Inoue's injury is "unclear," he was told "the severity isn't deemed serious."

The 29-year-old Japanese sensation is widely considered to be among the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world. He began his career at 108 pounds and quickly rose through the sport thanks to his incredible speed and devastating combinations.

A three-division world champion, Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) claimed all four 118-pound titles when he defeated Paul Butler by 11th-round knockout in December. He vacated the bantamweight titles in January and signed a deal to face Fulton and chase a championship in a fourth division.

Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) is also one of the top fighters in the world, so a fight against Inoue is undoubtedly one of most intriguing available matchups in the sport. The 28-year-old Philadelphia native has held the unified the WBC and WBO 122-pound titles since November 2021, and he defended his belts for the first time in June with a unanimous-decision win over Daniel Roman.

"I don't shy away from big fights," Fulton told ESPN in June. "A lot of people wanna see [me vs. Inoue]; a lot of people wanna talk about that as well. Had I been more known like Inoue, I'd be on that [pound-for-pound] list."

Fulton will now have to wait a bit longer for the opportunity to prove his statement to be true, but it will only build more excitement and anticipation for the return of Inoue.