VIDEO: Naoya Inoue pays homage to Roy Jones Jr. in return to the ring

Naoya Inoue paid tribute to a boxing legend in his return earlier this week.

'The Monster' is one of the hardest-hitting boxers on the planet as of now. Despite competing all the way down at bantamweight, he's firmly positioned himself as one of the biggest sluggers in boxing.

His wins over names such as Nonito Donaire and Jason Maloney show his true power. However, for all of his success, Inoue has yet to accomplish his number one goal: becoming an undisputed bantamweight champion.

Earlier this week in Japan, he got his chance to accomplish that goal as he faced Paul Butler. 'Baby Faced Assassin' captured the WBO bantamweight title with a win over Jonas Sultan earlier this year but was expected to pose little challenge to Inoue.

In reality, the fight played out as expected. Inoue dominated en route to an 11th-round knockout victory. While Butler had some success by remaining in the contest, he posed little threat from the standpoint of offense. In fact, the Brit spent most of the fight on the back foot.

It was likely due to the lack of offense coming back at him that Naoya Inoue decided to have some fun in the fight. At one point, the champion put his hands behind his back, taunting Butler in a move similar to the great Roy Jones Jr.

When he was active, 'Captain Hook' would taunt opponents as well, and was arguably the best to ever do so.

Watch Inoue pay tribute to Roy Jones Jr. in the video below:

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Naoya Inoue reveals plans to move up in weight

Naoya Inoue plans to move to super bantamweight for his next fight.

The bout with Paul Butler was expected to be the final bout at 118-pounds for 'The Monster' heading in. For his final fight in the weight class, he made history by demolishing the British fighter en route to a knockout victory.

With that, he became the undisputed bantamweight champion, the first to accomplish the feat since Enrique Pinder did it in 1972. While Inoue is already making history, he doesn't plan to let up anytime soon.

In an interview with Boxing Scene, Naoya Inoue discussed his move up in weight. He revealed his plans to repeat the same feat that he did earlier this week. He stated:

“I will aim to do the same at super bantamweight... I plan to move up in weight. When I do move up in weight to super bantamweight, I don’t think I will come back down.”

See his comments below: