By Ian S Palmer
The World Boxing Super Series returns to action in Yokohama, Japan this Sunday, October 7th and this time the action is in the bantamweight division. This 12-round bout will see unbeaten WBA Bantamweight Champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue of Japan defending his belt against Juan Carlos Payano of the Dominican Republic and can be seen live on DAZN in North america and Fuji TV in Japan. Inoue was last in the ring in May when he blew out Jamie McDonnell in the first round to take the WBA title while Payano’s last outing resulted in a 10-round unanimous decision win over Mike Plania.
The 25-year-old Inoue is a former WBO Jr. Bantamweight and WBC Junior Flyweight titleholder who has all the tools to be one of the world’s elite boxers. Inoue defended his junior bantamweight crown seven times before moving up in weight and quickly taking care of business against McDonnell. The Japanese star became a world champion in his sixth pro fight when he stopped Adrian Hernandez in the sixth round for his junior flyweight belt in May, 2014. He defended it once then moved up to super flyweight and took the title from Omar Narvaez by second-round KO in December, 2014.
Inoue has been a sensation in his homeland since turning pro in 2012. He’s a hard hitter with good boxing skills and stands at 16-0 along with 14 Kos. He’s boxed 92 rounds as a pro and has owns an impressive 88 per cent knockout ratio. He stands 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 67.5-inch reach. Inoue enjoyed a fine amateur career and is 11-0 with 10 Kos in world title fights and has also beaten the likes of Ryoichi Taguchi, Kohei Kono, David Carmona and Ricardo Rodriguez. He’s also 5-0 with 4 Kos against current or former world champions in Taguchi, Hernandez, Narvaez, Kono and McDonnell.
Juan Carlos Payano is a 34-year-old veteran southpaw who fights out of Miami, Florida and climbs into the ring with a record of 20-1 with 9 Kos. It may seem a bit odd that a 34 year old has just 21 pro bouts under his belt, but he didn’t make his debut until 2010 when he was already 26 years old. However, he enjoyed a fine and extensive amateur career and fought in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and Beijing, China respectively. He met Yuriorkis Gamboa, Rey Vargas and McWilliams Arroyo as an amateur and lost to them, but also beat Arroyo and his brother McJoe Arroyo
Payano stands five-feet-five-inches with a 64.5-inch reach so is the same height as Inoue, but gives up three inches in reach. Payano won several regional and minor titles before getting his first crack at a world title belt against Anselmo Moreno back in 2014. He won a sixth round technical decision and lifted the WBA Super World Bantamweight Title in the process. His first defence came against Rau’shee Warren by split decision, but was dropped in the last round. He also had a point deducted in the third round while Warren had two points taken away in the ninth.
They met in a rematch and Warren took the crown via a majority decision and that’s the lone loss on Payano’s pro record. Since then, Payano’s beaten the likes of Isao Gonzalo Carranza, Alexis Santiago and Mike Plania. Payano has tons of experience and plenty of fine boxing skills, but he lacks in power with nine stoppages in 21 fights for a knockout ratio of 43 per cent. He may be in the latter stages of his career now and nine years older than the champion, but Inoue definitely can’t afford to underestimate him.
Prediction…
So far, Inoue has lived up to his nickname of Monster and he’s quite a bit younger than Payano. He may may simply overpower the challenger or he could be forced into a boxing match. It’ll be interesting to see how the speedy Inoue handles Payano’s skills if this goes a few rounds, but I’m expecting the champion to retain his belt even if it goes the distance.
