The Monster, who sports a perfect record of 21 wins and no losses is 1/66 to retain his titles, with Dipaen priced up at 10/1 to spring a huge upset.
The Monster
Naoya Inoue, known as the Monster, has won 18 of his 21 professional victories by way of knockout.
The 28-year-old is a three-division world champion and currently holds the WBA, IBF and Ring magazine bantamweight belts. Inoue is ranked in the top five boxers, pound for pound, by the Boxing Writers Association of America, TBRB, ESPN and the Ring.
The Japanese fighter was victorious in Las Vegas in his most recent fight in June, knocking out Michael Dasmarinas in the third round.
Before that, Inoue beat the Australian Jason Moloney in the seventh round of their bout in October 2020.
The fighter has fought primarily within his own country including a first round knockout of British fighter Jamie McDonnell in 2018.
Inoue did take part in the World Boxing Super Series, in which he beat Juan Carlos Payano at the Hydro in Glasgow before winning the final over Nonito Donaire in Saitama in 2019.
In total, the bantamweight has completed just 117 rounds in 21 wins, an average of 5.6 rounds per fight.
The Challenger
The man tasked with unseating the unified champion is Aran Dipaen. The Thai fighter is also something of a knockout artist, with 11 of his 12 professional wins coming before the judges’ scorecards.
However the 30-year-old does have two losses blotting his copy book, including a defeat in Sheffield in 2019 at the hands of British fighter Tommy Frank.
In fact, both of Dipaen’s losses have come outside of Thailand, with his only victory outside his home nation a knockout of Japanese fighter Ryohei Arakawa two years ago.
The challenger won his last fight in March of this year over fellow countryman Sukpraserd Ponpitak, securing the IBF Pan Pacific bantamweight title in the process.
This is a major step up however, to face one of the top boxers in the world.
The fight
The closest Naoya Inoue has come to defeat was in the Super Series final against Nonito Donaire, being taken to the judges scorecard in a relentless battle that ended up winning the Ring magazine fight of the year accolade.
Unfortunately for Dipaen, he is not up to the same standard as Donaire and his odds are a true reflection of his chance. Inoue has faced tougher customers than the Thai boxer and come out victorious and looks very likely to do so again.
Of the men’s 33 professional fights, only six have gone to the judges’ scorecards so that seems unlikely. In fact the bout is a 7/1 shot to go the distance.
Inoue is a devastating puncher and could well have this over in a hurry, the explosive Japanese fighter to win in the second round at 3/1 may be of interest.
*All odds correct at time of writing