{"id":106352,"date":"2025-05-16T13:18:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T13:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106352\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T13:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T13:18:12","slug":"naoya-inoue-reveals-when-he-will-retire-from-boxing-i-will-inevitably-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106352\/","title":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue reveals when he will retire from boxing: ‘I will inevitably decline’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naoya Inoue admits 2027 could be his final year in professional boxing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The four-weight world champion has strung together a Hall of Fame-worthy career, which includes undisputed reigns at bantamweight and super bantamweight.<\/p>\n

\"Inoue<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Inoue is the reigning undisputed super bantamweight championCredit: Top Rank<\/p>\n

But all good things must come to an end, and at 32 years old, Inoue is realistic about his future<\/a> at the top of a division where reflexes and speed are paramount.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to close my fighting career when the time is right,\u201d Inoue<\/a> told Ring Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have about three years left, including this year…<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel any decline in my physical strength or performance yet, but I\u2019m sure that someday that day will come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to plan my training and fights with that in mind. <\/p>\n

“As a human being, I\u2019m sure I will inevitably decline. <\/p>\n

“So I think it\u2019s important to prepare and to know myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoue hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down just yet.<\/p>\n

Even after being dropped by Ramon Cardenas in his last outing<\/a> earlier this month, Inoue picked himself up off the canvas to dispatch the Texan in the eighth round.<\/p>\n

That victory punched his ticket for a WBA mandatory defence against former unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"At<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

At 32 years old he still looks to be as good as everCredit: Naoki Fukuda\/Top Rank\"However,<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

However, he is aware that Father Time is undefeatedCredit: Naoki Fukuda<\/p>\n

Providing he comes through that fight unscathed, then the much-anticipated all-Japanese showdown with WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani could come next.<\/p>\n

The Asian super fight hinges equally on Nakatani overcoming Ryosuke Nishida in a WBC and IBF unification clash on June 8.<\/p>\n

Both men have verbally agreed to meet each other for what would undoubtedly be the most commercially successful fight in Japanese boxing history.<\/p>\n

Inoue recently suggested that the fight could land in May 2026.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, reports suggest the iconic Tokyo Dome will host the lucrative event.<\/p>\n

Inoue has also been linked to a move up to featherweight to face Liverpool’s Nick Ball before his career comes to a close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue admits 2027 could be his final year in professional boxing. The four-weight world champion has strung…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,4496,7177,48770,2250,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-106352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-naoya-inoue","11":"tag-next-fight","12":"tag-retirement","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114517711587498929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}