Naoya Inoue aims to become undisputed champion by year's end

Although there are some talented competitors in the bantamweight division, Naoya Inoue wasn't particularly drawn to any of them. The 30-year-old Japanese native easily defeated his rivals there, barely breaking a sweat in the process.

The stars of pound-for-pound are currently most pleased with a recent accomplishment. Inoue, who already owned the IBF, WBA, and WBC bantamweight titles, plucked the last piece of his unchallenged jigsaw from Paul Butler's corpse in the final month of the year.

No one was left to fight, and more significantly, there was nothing left to win. Inoue decided to jump up in weight and shamelessly challenge Stephen Fulton, who is perhaps the best super bantamweight in the world, because he was looking for fresh challenges.

In the end, it took Inoue about four years to amass every significant world title at 118 pounds. He's pleased that he did it, but he's frustrated by how long it took Inoue to accomplish his objective. The Japanese megastar aspires to speed up the process this time around as he seeks to repeat his unchallenged status four pounds north.

“I want to be undisputed champion by the end of the year,” said Inoue to Top Rank Boxing.

Despite his continued ambition, Inoue isn't trying to run before he can walk. Fulton will formally challenge Inoue on Tuesday morning in his native Japan, putting his WBO and WBC super bantamweight belts on the line.

Even if Inoue manages to steal Fulton's titles, he will still fall short of his targets by two titles. Marlon Tapales is presently holding those belts captive. Ironically, the 31-year-old has already stamped his passport, boarded a plane, and is sitting ringside with the hopes of challenging the victor.

It takes a long time and a lot of effort to amass all of the major world titles in a certain weight class. However, Inoue's only wish is to be able to quicken that tedious task.