WBO Bantamweight Champion Takes Aim At Naoya Inoue

Japanese boxing superstar Naoya Inoue had just unified the bantamweight titles after dispatching Filipino legend Nonito Donaire in just two rounds this past Tuesday, June 7.

The Japanese knockout artist is currently waiting for his next challenger.

There has been no shortage of those who want to take on “The Monster,” chief among them being rising Filipino pugilist John Riel Casimero as he seeks to avenge his countryman’s devastating TKO loss.

However, another fighter has thrown his hat in the ring for the opportunity to face Inoue and it is British boxer Paul Butler.

Butler was originally supposed to fight Casimero for the WBO bantamweight title this past April, but the latter was found to have used a sauna in order to help him drop his weight–a policy-breaker that landed him in hot water with the British Boxing Board of Control.

The Englishman would go on to defeat Casimero’s countryman Jonas Sultan for the interim belt before being promoted to full champion status back in May.

Now, Butler has Inoue in his sights.

“I’ve read all sorts of comments and predictions about the fight, already: ‘Butler has a death wish,' ‘Inoue to win by murder’ and agreeing to the fight would be like ‘signing someone’s death warrant,’” Butler told Probellum.com in an interview.

“He (Inoue) hits very hard, but what’s the worst that can happen? He knocks me out. I’ve been stopped before and let me make it clear, I will be going into that fight believing I can win. I will be walking to the ring believing, as I always do, that I can win the fight and become the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world.”

Facing Inoue would be a big step up in competition as he puts his eight-fight win streak against Inoue, who has never lost in 23 professional career fights.

Butler also revealed that Inoue’s handlers had been asking around whom their man could face next prior to the Donaire rematch, and “The Baby Faced Assassin” was more than happy to put his name in the circle even going so far as to potentially accept a fight in the latter’s home country of Japan.

“I was starting to get itchy knuckles throughout the build-up and did my first punching session, since winning the world title, on Monday night [of June 6]. I’ll continue to put in one or two sessions a day now until we get the green light [against Inoue] and it’s all systems go,” he proudly declared.

With both men riding a wave of momentum going into their possible fight, the boxing world will be keeping a close watch on this development in the coming weeks.