Comments Thread For: Promoter Bob Arum Defends Naoya Inoue Staying at Home

[Bullrider]

still a DUMMY!! i just explained that NO ONE is going to stay up to watch his fights early sunday or monday in the US!!! besides the diehard fans!! boxing in the US is always traditional on a saturday night, likely in vegas, where millions of folks will tune in to watch!!!!

Who TF cares what you can or cannot watch? Who are you?

[_Rexy_]

because of what i mentioned above... be honest, he's not a global star outside of Japan... no one really knows about this guy unless you follow boxing or is japanese or asian..

like i said, I am not asking him to fight in the US for the remaining of his career, but in order for him to "break out" into the spotlight, he needs to fight on US soil... once they see how badass this guy is, his popularity will grow even more outside of japan...

nobody in the US is going to stay up and watch his fights on a monday or early sunday like how it usually is in Japan, unless they are a diehard Inoue fan, but most boxing fans /casual in the US will not watch his fights because of the timing.. they wouldnt even know that he's fighting, which is why he needs to come to the US, fight in vegas a few times, that's all i am asking.

i dont know why yall keep trying to deny this part and claim that he's already known and is a global star. he's not! compared to guys like pacquiao who doesnt live in the US either but he fights in the US. if manny never cross over to the US, he wouldnt have been as popular as he was. #truth

And that won't change. Boxing fans know him. Boxing fans appreciate him and know what he is. Casuals will never GAF, no matter how many times he fights there.

This isn't 2001 anymore. The Manny comparisons don't hold water.

[_Rexy_]

mofos saying people in the US wont watch his fights since he fights at a lower weight... not true at all... in the lower weights, there's a lot of mexican fighters for Inoue that will bring in the crowd!! just like when pac was fighting in the lower weight and kinda have like a PI vs mexico rivalry.. the same can happen to Inoue.. Japan vs mexico.

Who? Check the rankings.

Then remember that Inoue's opponents want the fight to be in Japan too. You think his opponents are going to sign to fight the cash cow of the lower weights for no cash?

Fulton WANTED to fight in Japan. Nery WANTS to fight in Japan.

Two fighters have sold out the Tokyo Dome. Mike Tyson, and Naoya Inoue. That is all.

[tonysoprano]

Porter got it wrong. Unless we pay him more than what he earns in Japan, no reason to fight here.

He’s king of his country.

[Elheath]

Also, Fulton was talking about a rematch with Figueroa at 126 prior to Inoue making the announcement that he was moving up to 122 and vacating all of 118 belts. Something makes me think that Fulton won't have changed his mind and stayed at 122 for a voluntary defense of his belts against Inoue if Inoue some how asked to fight in the US so he could get more exposure in US.

[Elheath]

Porter got it wrong. Unless we pay him more than what he earns in Japan, no reason to fight here.

He’s king of his country.

At this point I feel like the only way Inoue's OPPONENT will agree to fight Inoue outside Japan is if somehow Saudi somehow decides to get involved and pay for a card in America involving Inoue at featherweight next year.

[PunchyPotorff]

Why fix what isn't broken? Inoue is making big purses staying home in Japan.
Sounds like some people just wanna blabber away to hear themselves talk.

[Hustle]

Monster wasn't unknown. He was coming off the biggest name opp on his career, Nonito. He came, no one showed. He fought here earlier too. Again no one gaf. Unless Monster is a glutten for punishment or Turki starts writing him some checks he should stick to Japan.

Whatever big fight he could have in the US odds are it'll be bigger in Japan. US fans dgaf about lil guys. US fans dgaf about non-US/Mexican/PR boxers largely. Manny & GGG were outliers. Loma was never THAT popular.

Nonito was a afterthought in 2019. He was 2-3 heading into the monster fight. So spare me. Monster was an unknown little guy who beat a old great guy.

Monster popularity is higher in 2024 than it ever was in 2019. Now his name gets mentioned with Crawford as the best in the world. and fantasy fights with tank davis and Lomachenko. That's how far monster has came since his last U.S. fight

Nobody is saying he has to stay in america. But he needs a america fight as a top p4p fighter. Just like Calzaghe and Hatton

The problem is the opponent hasnt materialized yet. Give it a year and that Mexican/Puerto Rican that you say Americans love will be the opponent that will help inoue successfully invade america. Most likely at 126

[JakeTheBoxer]

Nonito was a afterthought in 2019. He was 2-3 heading into the monster fight. So spare me. Monster was an unknown little guy who beat a old great guy.

Monster popularity is higher in 2024 than it ever was in 2019. Now his name gets mentioned with Crawford as the best in the world. and fantasy fights with tank davis and Lomachenko. That's how far monster has came since his last U.S. fight

Nobody is saying he has to stay in america. But he needs a america fight as a top p4p fighter. Just like Calzaghe and Hatton

The problem is the opponent hasnt materialized yet. Give it a year and that Mexican/Puerto Rican that you say Americans love will be the opponent that will help inoue successfully invade america. Most likely at 126

He has fought in USA already.

[Eff Pandas]

Nonito was a afterthought in 2019. He was 2-3 heading into the monster fight. So spare me. Monster was an unknown little guy who beat a old great guy.

Monster popularity is higher in 2024 than it ever was in 2019. Now his name gets mentioned with Crawford as the best in the world. and fantasy fights with tank davis and Lomachenko. That's how far monster has came since his last U.S. fight

Nobody is saying he has to stay in america. But he needs a america fight as a top p4p fighter. Just like Calzaghe and Hatton

The problem is the opponent hasnt materialized yet. Give it a year and that Mexican/Puerto Rican that you say Americans love will be the opponent that will help inoue successfully invade america. Most likely at 126

Wherever Nonito was at thats still his most known opp. It was without question his most known opp at the time by US fans. And it made no impact.

Sure Monster is more popular today. And that makes him even more popular in Japan. Thats why hes making Tank, Fury, Canelo money in Japan that he'd never make in the US. I wouldn't say its impossible he could get a 8 digit fight in the US one day, but I think hes got very limited options that could open up at some future date. Its probably 10x more likely Turki offers him some 8 digit fight tho than he'd find one in the US.

Could not disagree more. Where Monster fights (or anyone else for that matter) has nothing to do with his p4p status. Thats crazy you think the zip code plays into p4p rankings so much. I'd argue whos SHOWING your fights matters far more than zip code. If Monster wasn't linked up with ESPN in the US it might impact his p4p status cuz fewer ppl will have seen him. If Monster was fighting on that Abema app he might not be 1 or 2 in basically everyones p4p sh^t. That might be true. But the keyword is might not for sure wouldn't be.

I think Monster vs Fig has FOTY potential & it'd be a big fight in the US. It'd be a bigger fight in Japan is the thing some of you guys are ignoring. That casual fanbase is fooking crazy. And Monster isn't ever gonna have THAT many casual US fans. In Japan I bet mfers who watch boxing 2x or less a year know who Monster is & hes probably that guy they watch 2x or less a year.