A hand-wrapping controversy has become an obstacle to a title fight. On July 25, Stephen Fulton Jr. is scheduled to defend his super-bantamweight titles against Naoya Inoue in Tokyo, Japan. Inoue has been on the radar for the title fight for a substantial amount of time. He boasts an undefeated record of 24 victories and no defeats. However, what is more impressive is his knockout ratio. In 24 victories, the Japanese secured a whopping 21 KOs, giving him a 88% knockout ratio.

 The boxing world is eager to see the bout take place. However, there has been some off-court fiasco that may result in the fight being called off. During their press conference, Fulton Jr.’s coach Rahim made an objection about the excessive tape used by Naoya to wrap his hands. This revelation made the rounds in the boxing community over safety concerns. However, Naoya Inoue addressed the controversy and the fans showed him support.

Fans weigh in on hand wrapping controversy between Naoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton

Inoue pointed out the fact that in Japan, an excessive amount of tape is allowed during hand wrapping. And mentioned that he is merely abiding by the rules of the Japanese boxing-sanctioning authorities.

He stated, “Japan has it’s own rules. Even in the US, there is local news in each state, and winding methods are different. Our fight is held to be on 25, so of-course I will follow the Japanese rules. Don’t suck it, just fight.”

This is how the fans reacted: