Retrospective · Fight: December 13, 2022 · Published:
The official result
Naoya Inoue defeated Paul Butler by knockout in round eleven on December 13, 2022. Naoya Inoue became undisputed bantamweight champion. The knockout came in round eleven after Butler extended the contest beyond ten. Inoue therefore secured both result and method: he assembled the belts without leaving the coronation to the addition of scorecards.
The stakes
Inoue entered with the WBA, WBC and IBF belts; Butler supplied the missing WBO championship. No Japanese man had previously gathered all four major titles in one division. The WBO title was the missing piece beside the WBA, WBC and IBF belts. The organization recorded Inoue as the first Japanese professional to collect all four major titles and the first undisputed WBO bantamweight champion.
How the night turned
Butler extended the fight deeper than Inoue’s previous 2022 opponents, but the eleventh-round knockout prevented the night from becoming a scorecard exercise. The last belt arrived with a finish. Reaching round eleven turned the bout into a test of continuity, not only immediate power. A useful rewatch question is how Butler extended the defense and what changed before the attack that produced the knockout, without confusing duration with an advantage.
What remains
The victory completed Inoue’s bantamweight work before his move to 122 pounds. It is best remembered as the punctuation mark on one division, not the beginning of a long undisputed defense cycle. Inoue called the victory the greatest moment of his career and then moved beyond bantamweight. That makes the fight a culmination: the final belt arrived in Japan against the one remaining champion who could prevent a complete collection.
Sources
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