The Panel: Does Inoue need to fight in the US to be a bona fide star?

Gary Lockett (Trainer)

I think a little bit of both. I agree with Shawn Porter to a certain extent, but I’d say Naoya Inoue is a bona fide star already and is top three pound-for-pound, but I do understand what Porter is saying. The biggest fights have always been in Las Vegas or Madison Square Garden. It’s a bigger and wider audience there and I do think Inoue could be a superstar if he did go to America.

Gary Logan (Trainer)

The States or Saudi Arabia. I think Shawn Porter thinks you’ve got no audience if you don’t have an American audience. There’s a lot of people in America who don’t know who Devin Haney is and that’s because he’s not boxed on a level where there’s been big enough coverage. More Americans will know who a relatively inactive Tyson Fury is than Haney. I disagree with Shawn on that one.

Jamie Conlan (Promoter)

I disagree completely. I think Naoya Inoue is a global superstar. He’s put the little men on the map and everyone else is following suit. I get what Shawn Porter is saying but America thinks the world revolves around America. We’re slowly but surely seeing that it doesn’t, and the audience Inoue gets globally proves he doesn’t need to fight in America.

Andy Lee (Trainer)

Inoue wants to be the best and he is the best. He is a star in his own right and he sells-out in Japan. Ten years ago, maybe five years ago there was an argument that you had to break America, but the boxing landscape has changed and it’s very much a global sport. The big fights are not in America anymore, it’s now Saudi Arabia and other places so I don’t agree with Porter’s point.