The fight will go on.
On Tuesday, July 25, Naoya Inoue will move up in weight once again and attempt to grab a title in his fourth different weight class. Standing in his way, Stephen Fulton Jr. will attempt to dethrone the Japanese champion on his home turf in what many expect to be his last fight within the weight class.
As the fight nears, members of Fulton Jr.’s team have raised issues with the way Inoue plans to wrap his hands for the fight. Wahid Rahim, Fulton’s head trainer, has accused Inoue of using “an excessive amount of tape” to wrap his hands in a practice known as “stacking.”
“In previous fights, Inoue and his team have wrapped his hands with an excessive amount of tape, and then applied more tape to the gauze which creates a cast,” Rahim said, according to Boxing Scene.
“This is not an assumption. I have proof. We can wrap our hands in the same fashion but then where is the level of safety for our fighters?”
Rahim threatened to pull Fulton Jr. out of the fight, but withdrew the threat when the unified champion said that he would like to move forward with the fight regardless. Now, Inoue has fired back at Rahim with comments of his own.
“Japan has its own local rules. Even in the US, there are local rules [in] each state, and the winding methods are different. Our fight will be held in Japan on [the] 25th, so of course I will follow the Japanese rules,” Inoue tweeted.
“Just fight.”
