ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting that Japanese super flyweight sensation Naoya “Monster” Inoue is looking to fight twice in less than two months to make both Japan’s big annual New Year’s Eve card and HBO’s planned February sequel to their acclaimed Super Fly card from last year. This is truly excellent news for fight fans everywhere.
Monster Inoue (14-0, 12 KOs) will be defending his WBO super flyweight title against Yoan Boyeaux (41-4, 26 KOs) of France on New Year’s Eve in Japan. It is traditional for there to be big fight events in both boxing and MMA in Japan on the last night of the calendar and Inoue will be a big part of that this year. Thankfully for US fans, that is a pretty easy fight. Boyeaux’s last five fights have been six rounders and he has never done anything of note. This is a showcase for the super flyweight titleholder.
Should Inoue get out of the New Year’s Eve show unscathed, he is on the record as to saying he will be on HBO’s February 24th super flyweight themed card. The main event of that card is tentatively between winners on the first show from last September in super flyweight titleholder Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (43-4-1, 39 KOs) and Juan Francisco Estrada (36-2, 25 KOs). No word on potential opponents for Inoue as of it, but there are plenty of good ones out there for him.
