Naoya Inoue emerged as the winner of the 2018–19 World Boxing Super Series, when he defeated WBA (Super) champion Nonito Donaire in the final via unanimous decision on 7 November 2019 to unify the WBA (Super), IBF and The Ring bantamweight titles.[3] Inoue would defend his unified titles three times – against challengers Jason Moloney, Michael Dasmariñas and Aran Dipaen – before facing Donaire, who had since won the WBC title, in a rematch on 7 June 2022. Inoue prevailed via second-round technical knockout to unify three of the four major world titles in the bantamweight division and retain his undefeated record.[4]
John Riel Casimero had captured the WBO bantamweight title on 30 November 2019 with a third-round technical knockout victory over Zolani Tete,[5] and a unification clash between Inoue and Casimero had been scheduled for 25 April 2020; however, the fight was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] Casimero reigned as the WBO champion until 4 May 2022, when he was stripped by the WBO after twice failing to defend the title against mandatory challenger Paul Butler.[7] Butler, who had defeated Jonas Sultan via unanimous decision twelve days earlier to win the WBO interim title, was elevated to become the full WBO champion, making him a two-time bantamweight champion, having previously held the IBF title in 2014.[8]
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