Previewingthe best upcoming fights around the world
OUTSTANDING
GOOD
FAIR
DISAPPOINTING
RUBBISH
The star ratings indicate how well the writer believes the fighters match up, the fight(s)’ contextual significance, and how good the fight(s) will be
MAIN EVENT
COMBINED, Naoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton weigh just 244lbs. That’s two stone lighter than Tyson Fury, a stone lighter than Francis Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight king who is scheduled to fight Fury next, and not all that heavier than world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
And yet, despite clearly lacking in size, it is Inoue and Fulton who have delivered everything the sport’s heavyweights have failed to deliver this year. How refreshing it is, too, to feel as though a delivery has arrived on time for once. Not a year early, not a year late, Fulton and Inoue will meet on Tuesday (July 25) in Tokyo at precisely the right moment. For the fans, as well, full of so much anticipation, there is something undeniably thrilling about the prospect of two boxers colliding at the peak of their powers. In neither man, in fact, will you be able to find any recent signs of regression, or even so much as a flaw that wasn’t noticeable a year or two ago. Rather, what
