Boxing

Eddie Hearn Slams Naoya Inoue, Says He Should Be Stripped Of His WBA Title

Eddie Hearn has gone on an exceptional rant at Naoya Inoue's resume.
Apratim Banerjee|
IMAGO / AFLOSPORT

Naoya Inoue is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world at the moment. 'The Monster' defeated Ye Joon Kim via knockout in his most recent fight on January 24.

Inoue is one of the most vicious knockout artists in the world and boasts a perfect professional record of 29-0-0. 26 of those wins have come by knockout.

While Inoue continues to establish his legacy as a modern day great, Eddie Hearn is not impressed with the Japanese boxer's achievements inside the ring. He called Inoue's resume 'sh*t' and asked for him to be stripped of the WBA super bantamweight title.

Promoter Hearn claimed Inoue is ducking his mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev and picking easier fights instead. Speaking to iFL TV, Hearn said:

Why should Naoya Inoue be given a pass to fight low-level opponents [Ye Joon Kim] and duck his mandatory? Not once, not twice, but three times. Naoya Inoue is a pound-for-pound great, but his resume is s***. Okay, he beat Stephen Fulton. It was a good performance. I think Naoya Inoue is really disappointing, and I think he’s very, very disappointing as a champion.
Eddie Hearn

He added:

I think fight fans need to wake up to what’s going on with Naoya Inoue. He’s boxed TJ Doheny and the geezer on Saturday [Ye Joon Kim]. I know he was supposed to fight Sam Goodman. No disrespect, but he’s just another [soft job].
Eddie Hearn

Eddie Hearn further claimed that Naoya Inoue has paid money to the WBA so he can keep avoiding Akhmadaliev. Hearn also claimed Inoue would rather fight Alan Davis and keep avoiding Akhmadaliev, saying he has ducked the Uzbek on three different occasions.

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Apratim Banerjee
APRATIM BANERJEE

Apratim is a Boxing and Soccer reporter for On SI. He has been in the industry for five years, having also worked for The Sporting News, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and more. After coming from an engineering background, he started pursuing a career in sports media. Apratim also holds an MSc. Sport Marketing degree from Loughborough University London and is a keen practitioner of social media and digital marketing. In his spare time, Apratim likes to play an array of sports and practice calisthenics. He is also an avid enthusiast of improving his martial arts skills.