Forget the football – boxing is the obvious sporting choice on Boxing Day

Signal as much as our free sport publication for all the newest information on every thing from biking to boxing

Signal as much as our free sport e-mail for all the newest information

What’s the point of interest of your Boxing Day? For some, it will likely be devouring the leftover turkey, roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts. For others, it will likely be a reluctant journey to the in-laws’ home for Christmas lite. For a lot of readers on this web page, it will likely be discovering a snug spot on the couch and settling in for a slew of Premier League video games. Beautiful. The truth is, the above aren’t mutually unique, however higher but? You can too squeeze in the actual spotlight of Boxing Day 2023 – one you would possibly nicely have ignored.

So, get the drive to the in-laws’ achieved good and early, maintain off on the leftovers till the afternoon (replenish on chocolate within the meantime, by all means), and stay up for the soccer, positive. However should you can deliver your self to overlook simply the early kick-off between an injury-ravaged Newcastle and flailing Nottingham Forest, then let your TV transport you to Tokyo. For there, the perfect boxer on the earth returns to the ring.

On Boxing Day, boxing is the suitable sporting alternative, as Naoya Inoue makes his bid to create much more historical past. At 12.30pm GMT, the primary whistle will sound on a day of Premier League motion on Amazon Prime, however at 12.15pm GMT, the primary bell will sound on the Inoue’s title combat with Marlon Tapales on Sky Sports activities.

I’ve written earlier than in regards to the Japanese celebrity’s beguiling ability, startling pace and scary ferocity – which has made him Indy Sport’s pound-for-pound No 1 boxer, forward of even Terence Crawford – and the way the 30-year-old’s preventing type is juxtaposed with the attraction of his bouts happening at 12pm on a Tuesday for UK followers. Conveniently, Boxing Day falls on a Tuesday this yr, and whereas there might be next-to-no celebrations in Japan, celebrations on these shores could be enhanced by factoring in Inoue vs Tapales.

Inoue is the unified super-bantameight champion, having demolished the genuinely gifted Stephen Fulton in disproportionate vogue in July to take the American’s WBC and WBO belts. Beforehand, Inoue reigned as undisputed bantamweight champion. Earlier than that, he was a world champion at super-flyweight. Earlier than that, the “Monster” was a world champion at light-flyweight. His skilled document stands at 25-0 with 22 knockout wins. Every time he steps within the ring with a top-level fighter, the expectation continues to be that he’ll knock them out.

The expectation would be the identical on Tuesday, as stable a boxer as Tapales is. The Filipino (37-3, 19 KOs) holds the IBF and WBA super-bantamweight titles, that means a victory over the 31-year-old would make Inoue the division’s undisputed champion. It might additionally make him simply the second man ever to turn out to be a two-weight undisputed champion within the four-belt period, following Crawford’s history-making win over Errol Spence Jr in July.

Such is Inoue’s prodigious potential that some followers are calling for a super-fight between the Japanese and Gervonta “Tank” Davis, one in every of a number of American stars in and across the light-weight division. Even Inoue, nonetheless, believes that scaling one other three weight lessons could also be a very formidable transfer. “I don’t assume it’s potential [to fight Davis],” he advised Battle Hype this week. “It’s extra [just] hype that followers are placing collectively. I consider him very extremely; if he’s on the decrease a part of the pound-for-pound checklist, I believe he must be up just a little bit additional up than the place he’s now.”

There is a fascinating dialog available about Davis, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia, and the assorted match-ups that would contain them (Davis vs Garcia is the one mixture to have come to fruition to this point, with “Tank” successful emphatically in April).

In reality, it’s foolish to tug Inoue into that dialog. His achievements stand on their very own, and whereas his opponents have a tendency to not have the profile of that gaggle of Individuals, they’re expert operators in opposition to whom victories are important.

Inoue will search one other important victory on Tuesday, on Boxing Day. Why not issue the combat into your festivities?

Watch Inoue vs Tapales reside on Sky Sports activities on the morning of Boxing Day. The undercard begins from 8am and the principle occasion after 10am