Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Naoya Inoue successfully returned to boxing on New Year’s Eve – a year removed from his last fight because of an injury to his right hand –

easily dispensing Warlito Parrenas in two rounds.

“I felt nervous during the bout with Parrenas because it was my first bout since the end of 2014,” Inoue told RingTV.com through translator Tomoyuki Kataoka.

Thankfully, Inoue, THE RING’s No. 1-rated junior bantamweight and WBO titleholder, emerged from the bout without any new injuries.

Close to 8,000 people attended the Inoue-Parrenas fight at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan. The fight garnered a relatively good TV rating of 7.2%.

Former WBA and WBC strawweight champion Hideyuki Ohashi, head of Ohashi Promotions, which managers Inoue, was happy with his fighter’s performance.

“I was very pleased,” Ohashi said. “There was no problem for Naoya to prevail over Parrenas because he trained very hard prior to the bout.”

There is currently no date for “The Monster” next fight bout, though it is expected he will fight sometime during the spring.

“The next bout will be a rematch with Narvaez,” explained Ohashi. “After the rematch, it may be possible for Naoya to go to U.S. in the near future. There has not been any actual conversation with HBO, however, it will be a big loss in the boxing industry if two remarkable fighters (Roman Gonzalez and Inoue) do not fight each other.”

The WBO recently stated that Inoue has to face David Carmona next. It will be interesting to see if Inoue faces a contractually obliged rematch with Narvaez or mandatory challenger Carmona next.

Carmona was stopped by Narvaez in seven round in 2013 and held recent Inoue victim Parrenas to a draw last summer and appears to be of no real danger to Inoue.

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