Boxing Champ Inoue Naoya Aims To Complete Career Undefeated
Japanese professional boxing sensation Inoue Naoya says he hopes to finish his career at age 35 undefeated.
The 29-year-old unified bantamweight world champion made the remark on Monday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Inoue became the first Japanese boxer to hold a world title from three different sanctioning bodies with his victory by technical knockout over Nonito Donaire of the Philippines in the world bantamweight title unification bout on June 7.
He added Donaire's WBC champion belt to his own WBA and IBF champion belts.
Inoue is also the first Japanese national to top the "pound for pound" rankings by the US authoritative magazine The Ring, which picks the best boxers in the world across all weight classes.
Looking back on his win over Donaire, Inoue said he was confident and in good condition. He said he couldn't have done better and was satisfied with the result.
Inoue also referred to his 23 career wins with no losses, 20 of which were knockouts. He said he was probably recognized for his style in knocking out opponents which allowed him to rise to the top of the "pound for pound" rankings featuring many heavyweight boxers.
Inoue said he aims to become the unified world champion of four boxing organizations this year, and he will then raise his weight class to super bantamweight.