Inoue’s Featherweight Future in Doubt?

Bruce Carrington says he doubts superstar Naoya Inoue will “Be in a rush” to move up to featherweight after being dropped in his fight last Sunday night by Ramon Cardenas. The 126-lb contender Carrington states that he thinks Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) will choose to stay at super bantamweight and “coast” for the remainder of his career.

Inoue, 31, being knocked down by Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) in round two of their fight last Sunday night at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas may have been a wake-up call for the ‘Monster.’ In other words, Naoya has reached his ceiling and shouldn’t dare move beyond the 122-lb division to fight bigger, stronger punchers at 126.

Last year, Inoue was knocked down by Luis Nery in the first round when he was clipped by a big left hook on May 6th at the Tokyo Dome. He’d never been dropped before in his career up until that point. It wasn’t a flash knockdown. Nery hit Inoue clean with a left hook. The way that Inoue went down showed that his chin might be too glass-like for him to move up to 126 to tangle with apex predators like Rafael Espinoza or Bruce Carrington.

“Coast” at Super Bantam?

“You got to know your limits. Like me, I wouldn’t be able to go up to 160 or anything like that. You got to know your limits as a fighter,” said Carrington to Ring Magazine on whether Naoya Inoue will move up to featherweight.

Carrington brings up a good point about a fighter needing to know their limits. From looking at Inoue’s reaction to the punches that Ramon Cardenas was hitting him with, you can tell that he won’t do well at featherweight against the powerful fighters in that division. Cardenas is not a big puncher, yet Inoue looked in danger at every shot he threw.

“I do feel that even with him being dropped in his last fight, he’s definitely not going to be in a rush to come up to 126 because we’re punching even harder,” Carrington continued about ‘Monster’ Inoue.

“I can see him probably being like, ‘You know what? I could probably just coast the rest of my career at 122.’ And he’s done enough in his career to make that call. He’s done enough. He definitely made a mark in the sport for sure.”

A Dead Division 

Inoue will likely choose to remain at 122 in safety for the remainder of his career, and feast off the weak opposition in this essentially dead division. There’s minimal talent at super bantamweight because the better fighters are at 126. Staying at super bantamweight is the perfect environment for Naoya to thrive against the limited fighters for another five to six years. He can continue to make good money in that weight class and increase his wealth.