Naoya Inoue decimates Stephen Fulton in masterclass for unified super bantamweight titles

There has been a lot of hype about Naoya Inoue, the dynamic power puncher from Japan, for years.

It is no hype, though. It is the plain, hard, unvarnished truth.

Inoue is the real deal. We have been given the privilege to watch one of the all-time greats, one of the best of the best of the best to ever do it, a guy with a rare combination of speed, skill, smarts and power.

Inoue completely overwhelmed previously unbeaten Stephen Fulton on Tuesday in Tokyo, beating him up for seven one-sided rounds before knocking him down and then finishing him at 1:14 of the eighth to claim the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles.

Referee Hector Afu had to jump in to save Fulton, who was taking a battering and had no safe escape.

Fulton entered the bout as one of the top 10 fighters in the world, an unbeaten world champion who had the advantage of size going into the bout.

Inoue, though, made him look ordinary. Inoue showed an extraordinary jab, vicious body work, exceptional speed and all-time power. Fighters don’t get better than that. He can box, he can cut off the ring, he is faster and quicker than anyone he faces, and he hits like a guy several divisions higher. He is masterful at the way he controls the distance and he goes up and down with aplomb.

He dropped Fulton along the ropes for the first time in the eighth with a vicious, blistering straight right and then a left hook. Fulton somehow got up and stumbled into a corner, but Inoue is one of the game’s finest finishers. He wasted little time putting away Fulton.

The win improved Inoue’s record to 25-0 with 22 knockouts. It was the fourth division in which he’s won a world title, coming after titles at junior flyweight, super flyweight and bantamweight. IBF/WBA champion Marlon Tapales entered the ring after the bout and the two are expected to fight for the undisputed title in November.

As good of a fighter as Tapales is, he is no Fulton, and Fulton wasn’t remotely close enough to defeat Inoue.

Most of the boxing world has descended upon Las Vegas to watch Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., unbeaten welterweights, fight for the undisputed title and, presumably, the mythical pound-for-pound championship Saturday.

Inoue, though, who entered the fight at No. 2 on Yahoo Sports’ list behind Crawford, threw his hat in the ring for the top pound-for-pound slot. If either Crawford or Spence can deliver the kind of performance on Saturday that Inoue did Tuesday, it’s going to be an incredible fight and cap one of the greatest weeks in modern boxing history.

There haven’t been many fighters ever who have been able to do everything that Inoue has done. Most incredibly, 20 of his 25 professional bouts have been world title fights, and he’s 20-0 with 18 KOs in championship matches. That’s almost mind-blowing when you think of it.

And in a sport where it’s traditionally been hard to unify belts, Inoue has sought out the toughest challenges. He knocked out two-belt bantamweight champion Paul Butler in 11 in December to become undisputed bantamweight champion.

What did he do next? He went up a weight class and sought out Fulton, easily the best at 122. And what did he do to Fulton? He decimated him. He totally outclassed a guy who had been building a Hall of Fame résumé himself.

After the fight, he invited Tapales to the ring and challenged him to fight for the undisputed super bantamweight title this year.

It’s mind-boggling how good Inoue is.

You’re measured by your competition and he’s decimated elite, superb fighters like Nonito Donaire, a no-brainer future Hall of Famer, and Fulton. No one has really come close to beating him. No one has come close to being able to cope with his speed or absorb his power.

It would be an extraordinary ask for him to move up yet another division and compete at featherweight, but that might be the only way to get him competition. He started as a 108-pounder and has a small frame for a 122-pounder.

Yet, he destroyed Fulton and likely will do an even bigger number on Tapales.

You’re seeing the best not only of this era, but of many eras. Based on what we saw Tuesday in Tokyo, Crawford and Spence may be fighting for No. 2 pound-for-pound spot Saturday in Las Vegas.

Inoue has separated himself from the pack by a huge margin.

He’s not yet widely appreciated in the U.S., where boxing fans have traditionally embraced the bigger fighters and paid scant attention to fighters below featherweight. If you love boxing even a little bit, however, you owe it to yourself to see this guy.

He’s Shohei Ohtani. He’s Patrick Mahomes. He’s LeBron James.

He’s a superstar in every sense of the word.

There have been few better in boxing’s rich history.