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Naoya Inoue is the 2023 TSS Fighter of the Year

Naoya Inoue is the 2023 TSS Fighter of the Year
Japan might be the Land of the Rising Sun, but it also is notable for its dizzying array of fearsome fictional creatures, the most famous of which, Godzilla, made the first of its 38 movie appearances (33 produced in Japan, five in the United States) in 1954. Originally scaled to be 164 feet tall in relation to film-set replicas of Tokyo skyscrapers, the prehistoric reptilian sea monster could level entire cities with its enormous size and strength as well as a signature weapon, an “atomic heat beam” blasted through the mouth as if from a gigantic flamethrower.
At 5’5½” and a mere 121.8 pounds for his most recent rampage in a boxing ring, Naoya “The Monster” Inoue might not appear to be as physically imposing as Godzilla, but he must seem plenty big enough to the outclassed guys in the other corner who can be excused for feeling as if they were contending with a larger-then-life force of nature with a repertoire of power punches no less destructive than atomic heat beams loaded into each gloved fist.
In almost every reasonably reputable pound-for-pound listing of the planet’s best boxers, the top two spots are reserved for Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs), the now-undisputed super bantamweight champion, and Terence “Bud” Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), the undisputed welterweight ruler. One boxing writer, placing Crawford first and Inoue second, describes the difference between them as the width of a single strand of horse hair used in the padding of gloves in a bygone era.
For the purpose of not having both of the sport’s premier performers share the honor, TSS has, with more than a bit of trepidation, selected the 30-year-old Inoue as its 2023 Fighter of the Year. But instead of slotting Crawford, 35, at No. 2, let us split the difference and call it, well, a case of the Japanese miniature monster coming in at No. 1 to Crawford’s 1A. But 2024 is another year, and it will be fascinating to see which of the two unbeaten (and, for now, seemingly unbeatable) superstars, if not some other elite practitioner of the pugilistic arts, crosses that future finish line a nose ahead.
Was there a criterion employed by TSS to marginally separate the obvious and indisputable greatness of Inoue and Crawford? Well, yes. The economics of boxing at the elite level are such that the biggest of big fights virtually guarantee eight-figure bonanzas for blue-chip main-eventers, which have led to some punching for pay a single time in a given year. Hey, no future Hall of Famer is going to log an insane 43 bouts in a six-year period, as the late, great Archie Moore did after wresting the light heavyweight championship from Joey Maxim on Jan. 27, 1954, but Omaha, Neb., native Crawford fought just once in 2023, and even if it was a career-best, Hall of Fame-level ninth-round stoppage of fellow unbeaten unified titlist Errol Spence Jr. on July 29, a victory which reportedly earned him a $25 million payday, it still comes down to a one-and-done. Now the holder of all four major alphabet belts (WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO) at 147 pounds as he was at 140, Bud could afford to take the rest of the year off if he so desired, and he did.
Inoue wasn’t crazy-busy in the year about to pass into history, but he moved up from bantamweight to super bantamweight with almost ridiculous ease, and against a pair of opponents who should have been tough nuts to crack, but weren’t. Then again, asserting his dominance against high-quality rivals has become an Inoue trademark; nine of his last 11 victims were either reigning, former or future world champions. He debuted at 122 pounds by scoring an eighth-round TKO of highly regarded WBC and WBO titlist Stephen Fulton of Philadelphia on July 25, and followed that up on Dec. 26 with a 10th-round knockout of Marlon “The Nightmare” Tapales, a rugged, 31-year-old southpaw from the Philippines who came in with possession of the IBF and WBA belts, a 37-3 record and more faith in himself than logic dictated.
“I will be the Japanese Monster’s biggest nightmare,” Tapales predicted. “I’m 2,000 percent confident.”
It didn’t take all that long for Inoue to strip Tapales of about 1,900 percent of that confidence, flooring him with a left hook in the fourth round and proceeding from there to move closer to the almost-inevitable conclusion, which came after an elapsed time of 1 minute, 2 seconds into round 10.
“I couldn’t keep up with Inoue. His speed surprised me,” Tapales said after referee Celestino Ruiz counted him out.
Tapales shouldn’t have been very surprised by anything Inoue pulled out of his well-stuffed trick bag. Boxing writer Cliff Rold, in the lead-up to the bout, described him as “one of the game’s most complete combinations of power, speed and skill since Roy Jones Jr.,” and commentators Joe Tessitore and Mark Kriegel, in Tokyo for the ESPN+ telecast from the Ariake Arena, were similarly gushing in their praise, with Tessitore saying Inoue is “the one fighter you must watch” and Kriegel that “he’s a fighter that all fighters should aspire to be.”
The International Boxing Hall of Fame would seem to be a reserved destination for “The Monster” at some point, and it might be argued that he already has matched or possibly surpassed the career accomplishments of Japan’s most revered boxer, Masahiyo “Fighting” Harada, a former flyweight and bantamweight world champion who compiled a 55-7 record with 22 KOs from 1960 to 1970, including victories over such fellow legends as Thailand’s Pone Kingpetch and Brazil’s Eder Jofre.
“I think super bantamweight is my division now, so in 2024 I will look to show even greater form,” Inoue said after he’d taken care of Tapales. If so, like the announcement of a new Godzilla movie coming out, that is some prediction of future attractions.
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Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. “Championship Rounds, Round 4,” the fourth installment of Fernandez’s four-volume anthology, is now out and available via Amazon and other book-selling outlets.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
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