Photo/Illutration Naoya Inoue poses at a news conference on Dec. 27 in Yokohama. (Kogo Shioya)

A day after becoming the undisputed super bantamweight champion, boxer Naoya Inoue shot down speculation about his immediate future and fired some counterpunches at his critics.

Inoue, 30, said on Dec. 27 that he will stay in his current weight division for at least two more years.

“I want to show the strongest version of Naoya Inoue,” the undefeated champ said. “I won't move up in weight unless I have to.”

Inoue (26-0) knocked out Marlon Tapales in the 10th round in Tokyo on Dec. 26 to claim all four major belts in the division.

He became the second male boxer to earn a four-belt undisputed championship in two weight classes.

Some boxing pundits speculated that the “Monster” would add more weight and try to dominate the featherweight division.

But Inoue said he would stay put.

Inoue has constantly moved up in weight class throughout his career. Although he became a super bantamweight only this year, he was favored to defeat Tapales.

“I watched the video of the fight twice, and I think we had an amazing technical battle,” Inoue said.

But some critics said the fact that the tough Filipino lasted into the later rounds showed that Inoue is struggling in the heavier weight class.

“What should I do if I’m told that for a performance this good?” Inoue said. “You call it a struggle just because I took a couple of punches, and from a two-belt world champion? Come on, real-life things don’t go like they do in manga.”

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