Bruce Carrington believes he will finally beat Japanese star Naoya Inoue when he moves up to featherweight. Carrington, 27, says he doesn’t want to get too involved in talking about the fight against the 31-year-old Inoue because he’s taking his “sweet time to get to featherweight.”
Inoue’s reluctance to move up
Carrington has the right attitude as Inoue doesn’t look like he will ever move up to featherweight. He has a good thing fighting at 122 against old guys like TJ Doheny and weak punchers like Sam Goodman.
Some fans feel that Inoue is afraid to move up to 126 because there are too many dangerous sharks in the division. Inoue is enjoying himself in the safety of the super bantamweight division. In that weight class, Inoue could theoretically stay on top well into his 40s because fighters aren’t interested in that division.
They hit a lot harder than the fighters at 122, and they have a lot more talent. It’s safer for Inoue to stay at super bantamweight and be the master of his little ship and thrive.
Undefeated 126-lb contender Carrington (12-0, 8 KOs) says he saw “holes” in ‘Monster’ Inoue’s game going into his successful title defense of his undisputed super bantamweight championship earlier this week against TJ Doheny on September 3 in Tokyo, Japan.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) was hit hard by the 37-year-old Doheny and looked timid in the first four rounds until he scored an injury-related seventh-round stoppage at the Ariake Arena.
Doheny’s back gave out on him, which is not surprising given his age. He looked much older than 37. If I didn’t know Doheny’s age, I would have pegged him as being 45 years old. Inoue sure knows how to pick them, doesn’t he?
Carrington believes he can “take down” Inoue.
“There are holes in the man’s game. Granted, he’s a great fighter, but I do believe I’ll be the one to take him down,” Bruce Carrington told the Secondsout. YouTube channel, talking about Naoya Inoue.
Carrington is right. Doheny exposed all kinds of holes in Inoue’s game in that fight. These are just a few of them:
- Throw only single shots: Inoue is unable to throw combos.
- Timid when attacked: Naoya can certainly dish it out, but he looks scared when attacked, forced to fire back.
- Lose hand speed: The ‘Monster’ Inoue isn’t as fast as he once was, and it’s only going to get worse as he gets older. If Inoue sticks around for a few more years, he’ll be fishy at 122, even for the low-level fighters.
“I would love to have a fight with Inoue here in the US if it has to be Japan, whatever. I don’t want to get into the Inoue talk too much because he’s taking his sweet time getting to the featherweight division. He’s got a lot of business to take care of (at super bantamweight),” Carrington said.
“So, when the time comes, the time comes. I don’t want to be seen as this guy who is popular because of Inoue. I want to be known as Bruce Carrington and be my own star and focus on the featherweight champions that are now in front of me.”
If I were Carrington, I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for Inoue to move up to 126. If Naoya was going to make the move, he would have already done so after his win over the washed up Luis Nery.
Instead, Inoue chose grizzled veteran TJ Doheny, who has lost three of his last seven fights, with all of his wins coming against non-contenders.
“I’m not really focused on Inoue at the moment. So when the time comes, it comes. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll be fine,” Carrington said.
Inoue says he wants to fight #1 WBO Sam Goodman in December and then possibly face Junto Nakatani when he moves up from bantamweight. But here’s the catch: Inoue wants Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) to fight a unification bout against his brother, WBA 118-lb champion Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs).
Some see this condition that Inoue is setting up to make the fight between him and Nakatani bigger in 2025. I don’t see it that way. I believe Inoue is helping his brother, Takuma, who is an average fighter who won his vacant WBA bantamweight title by beating 41-year-old Liborio Solis.
Takuma would get a nice payday by fighting Nakatani. So, Inoue would help his brother out by forcing Nakatani to fight him first before facing him.
Inoue’s conditions for the fight against Nakatani
“Before he steps up to fight me, he’ll have to fight my brother Takuma,” Naoya Inoue said during the press conference following his win over TJ Doheny, letting the media know that WBC 118-lb champion Junto Nakatani must fight. a bantamweight unification bout against his brother, WBA champion Takuma Inoue, before agreeing to fight at 122.
“It’s not easy because Takuma will be a very tough opponent and a thick wall for Nakatani,” said Inoue.
