Naoya Inoue signs with Top Rank following WBSS win

Immediately on the heels of his World Boxing Super Series win over Nonito Donaire early this morning (in the U.S.), it has been announced that Naoya Inoue has just inked a co-promotional deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank that will bring Inoue to the ESPN platform in the coming year.

The contract with Top Rank was dependent on Inoue beating Donaire today, which turned out to be tougher than expected, but now becomes official.

“Naoya Inoue is a generational talent, the sort of fighter who comes around once a decade,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “He is already a superstar in Japan, and he will be major star stateside in no time. You are looking at an all-time great who is entering the prime of what will be a historic career.”

Inoue also shared a few thoughts on bringing his brand to The States to build his profile.

“It is a tremendous honor to sign with Top Rank and to showcase my talents on ESPN,” Inoue said. “I look forward to 2020. I’ve fought in America once before, and I look forward to doing so again in the very near future.”

With Inoue now in tow, it will be interesting to see how Top Rank plans to promote him into a star attraction Stateside. Top Rank has had serious difficulty finding marquee fights for Terence Crawford lately, are currently leveraging WWE to build Tyson Fury’s profile, so we’ll just have to see what they have in mind for Inoue.