The Monster reigns.
This week, ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue returns to action with hopes of becoming the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world. To do this he will need to beat Britain’s Paul Butler in front of a friendly crowd at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The 29-year-old Inoue comes into this one with a 23-0 (20 KOs) record and a reputation as one of the hardest pound for pound punchers on the planet (especially when it comes to body shots). He will be defending his WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and The Ring titles.
Inoue’s last win was a sensational two round TKO of Nonito Donaire to add the WBC belt to his collection.
Butler will be defending his WBO title. He’s 34 with a record of 36-2 (15 KOs). He won his title last time out, with a unanimous decision win over Jonas Sultan. His last loss was in 2018, when he failed to beat Emmanual Rodriguez for the vacant IBF bantamweight title (which Rodriguez lost to Inoue a year later, via second round KO).
Full results:
Main Card (5 a.m. ET, ESPN+)
- Undisputed bantamweight championship: Naoya Inoue TKO-11 Paul Butler
UNDISPUTED.
POUND FOR POUND NO. 1??
All hail @NaoyaInoue_410 #InoueButler pic.twitter.com/rPFdeKZy2k
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 13, 2022
- Andy Hiraoka TKO-8 Min Ho Jung
- Yoshiki Takei TKO-11 Bruno Tarimo
- Takuma Inoue TKO-8 Jake Bornea
Tickets
Tickets at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan are available here.
Live Stream
Inoue vs. Butler will air on ESPN+.
A monthly subscription to ESPN+ costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. ESPN+ can also be included in The Disney Bundle with Hulu. The ad-supported version of that package is $13.99. The no-ads version is $19.99.
The show is also available on Amazon Prime in Japan and PPV in Australia ($29.95).
ESPN+ can be viewed on the following devices:
Web browsers
ESPN+ web browser and system requirements
Mobile devices and tablets
Apple iPhones and iPads
Android phones and tablets
Amazon Fire tablet
Smart TVs
Android TV devices
Samsung Tizen smart TVs
Gaming consoles and streaming devices
Amazon Fire TV
Apple tvOS
Chromecast
Oculus Go
Playstation
Portal TV
Roku
Xbox
Xfinity Flex and X1 TV Box
Live news, updates and round-by-round commentary is available here on Bloody Elbow.