On August 19, “The Monster” appeared at Korakuen Hall, widely regarded as the mecca of Japanese boxing. Since defeating Junto Nakatani by decision at Tokyo Dome on May 2, Inoue has yet to officially announce his next fight. Perhaps because of that, the 32-year-old looked relaxed as he sat down with The Ring and spoke at length about his past, present and future. This is the second part of that discussion (Part I is here):

“I think I could have done more. But that was a fight I absolutely had to win, so I fought while calculating the points. It wasn't a fight where I was trying to get into a war or actively go for the knockout. My goal was to win and close out that Tokyo Dome event with a victory. So, in that sense, yeah, I'm satisfied with the way it went.”

“Yeah. I guess the most important thing was that I won.”

“It might have. But early in the fight, both of us were still fresh physically, so I think it would have been difficult to land that kind of shot. People always talk about the ‘what ifs,’ saying, ‘If only that had happened earlier.’ But there's really no way to know what would have happened if it had happened earlier.”

“I think so.”

“I did. I was able to fight while carefully calculating the points. So during the fight, I felt like I was winning 117-111, and I thought that was probably about what the score would look like. If it came back 116-112 I'd think, ‘That's closer than I expected. Where did I lose those rounds?' I guess there were some rounds that the judges scored more strictly against me. I was fighting with that level of calmness, thinking about things like that during the fight.”

“Yeah, that's right. I'm the kind of fighter who decides how I'm going to fight by watching what the opponent does. That's how I approach every fight. We simulate different scenarios beforehand, and Nakatani came out fighting the way he did, so I adjusted and fought accordingly.”

“I'd say he was more difficult to fight than simply ‘strong.’ Rather than thinking, ‘This guy is so strong,’ I was more focused on how difficult he was to deal with because of his size, reach and so on. That was the first thing that came to mind.

"But I think I was able to do better than I expected, and I was able to figure out how to deal with that difficulty. A lot of people looked at the fight afterward and said something along the lines of, ‘Nakatani did better than expected.’ But I don't see it that way.

He was a fighter with that kind of size and reach, and on top of that, he was already in the pound-for-pound rankings. He had built up both his ability and his confidence. Maybe people thought I'd beat someone like that easily, regardless of all those factors. But boxing doesn't work that way.

"Personally, I think I did a good job of dealing with the difficulties he presented.”

“I think the first time I reached No. 1 was about two years ago. Honestly, I don't have the same excitement about it that I did back then. But I want to have the kind of fights that justify being in this position, and I want to stay there for as long as possible.”

“I think it will probably be both. The kind of opponent who can give me an interesting fight is probably going to have the kind of status that matches this level, too. From this point on, I don't think I'll be fighting someone who has only one of those two qualities.”

“Actually, I'm the one who told him that. I've told my father and Hideyuki Ohashi, the chairman, that if they see signs of decline, they should stop me.

"The reason is that if I try to decide for myself when it's time to quit, I probably won't be able to do it. There are a lot of fighters who can't make that decision and end up continuing for too long. I want to retire while I'm still good, while I'm still in a good place. I have that feeling, but at the same time, I still want to keep fighting. That's why I don't think I can make that decision entirely on my own.”

“If I'm really going to become a promoter, then I should retire right now. If I'm going to remain involved in boxing after my career, I've already accomplished this much. The best thing would probably be to retire undefeated and leave behind the value of Naoya Inoue at its highest.

"But right now, I'm still an active fighter. If I become too focused on that, I'll no longer be able to challenge myself. So rather than thinking about what comes after my career, I want to prioritize challenging myself as much as I possibly can.”

“I do. Ideally, I'd like to get through the Bam fight first, graduate from super bantamweight, and then move into the final chapter of my career at featherweight. That's the path I'd like to take. I want to keep challenging myself all the way through.”