Japan’s Little Monster, Naoya Inoue, KOs Tapales, Becomes ‘Undisputed’ Twice Over

Tonight, in Tokyo, Naoya “Monster” Inoue scored a 10^th round stoppage over Marlon Tapales to become the second fighter in the modern, four-belt era to fully unify titles in two separate weight classes. The only other boxer to accomplish this feat is Terence Crawford.

Inoue, still boyish in appearance at age 30, systematically broke down Tapales, knocking him down in the fourth round with a combination and then ending the fight in round 10 with a pair of straight right hands that were partially blocked. The first punch wobbled him and the second sent him to his knees where he remained as referee Celestino Ruiz tolled the 10-count. This isn’t to suggest that the fight was completely one-sided. Tapales wasn’t afraid to exchange with Inoue; he was simply out-gunned.

The amazing Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) won his first world title in only his sixth professional fight, capturing the WBC 108-pound title with a sixth-round stoppage of Mexico’s Adrian Hernandez. He went on the unify the world bantamweight title and then picked up two pieces of the super bantamweight (aka junior featherweight) diadem with an eighth-round stoppage of Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton in Tokyo this past July. The other two pieces were the property of Tapales, the 31-year-old Filipino who acquired the belts with an upset of Uzbekistan’s previously undefeated Murodjon Akhmadaliev, winning a split decision at San Antonio this past April.

After the bout, Inoue said he has no immediate plans to move up another division and take on the featherweights. The leading candidates for his next fight are Mexico’s Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs), rated #1 by the WBC, and Australia’s Sam Goodman (17-0, 7 KOs) rated #1 by the IBF and WBO.

A bout with Nery would be a blockbuster in Japan where the Tijuana bad-boy is held in great contempt.

In August of 2017, Nery came to Japan and ended the reign of long-reigning WBC bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka with a fourth-round stoppage. But Nery failed his post-fight drug test, dictating a do-over. They fought again in March of the following year and this contest was even more one-sided. Nery, who came in five pounds overweight at the weigh-in and three pounds overweight on his second and final try, blasted him out in the second round, sending Yamanaka off into retirement, an undefeated fighter if not for his two setbacks to the Mexican.

There’s one big fly in the ointment, however, regarding a bout between Inoue and Nery. As Lukasz Fenrych notes, Nery is banned from fighting in Japan. That ban would have be lifted for the fight to take place in Japan where Inoue is a superhero on par with the baseball player Shohei Ohtani.

“I was impressed by Inoue’s technique as a boxer, and I was surprised by his speed,” said Tapales whose record declined to 37-4. His observations echoed those of others who had the well-compensated but otherwise unfortunate experience of trading punches with the amazing Monster.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE