The WBC/WBO junior featherweight world champion, Naoya “The Monster” Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs), made history again.
The Japanese pound-for-pound superstar knocked out IBF/WBA Filipino champion Marlon Tapales in the 10th round to capture the undisputed junior featherweight championship on Tuesday at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
With the victory, Inoue joins Terence Crawford as the only undisputed men’s two-weight champions in the four-belt era. Inoue, a four-weight world champion, is 21-0 with 19 knockouts in title fights and has knocked out his last seven foes.
Tapales (37-4, 19 KOs), a two-weight world champion, saw his four-fight winning streak end.
Inoue said: “I am very happy to have achieved the knockout in such a decisive way.
“He never showed any fatigue or damage to his face, so I was quite surprised when he went down in the 10th round.
“It was probably one of the most intense fights I’ve ever had, but my corner encouraged me and kept me focused throughout the fight.”
Tapales, who won the unified world championship earlier this year, emerged as the aggressor and attempted to stop Inoue with a concerted body attack. Inoue responded with savage body shots, sweeping the early rounds on the scorecards. Late in the fourth, a series of left hooks dropped Tapales, who got up just before the bell rang to end the round.
Tapales found his rhythm in the middle rounds, backing up Inoue and landing body shots in the seventh and eighth. “El Monstruo” found his rhythm in the ninth and finished off Tapales in the 10th with a right hand that put him on the ground for the count. The pound-for-pound king, who began his career at 108 pounds, added two more belts to his massive collection.
