Naoya Inoue closed the year on a high with a 10-round knockout of Marlon Tapales to become the undisputed super bantamweight champion and remain one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today.
The Japanese was the star of the night at the Ariake Arena in Koto Ku and had another dream performance in the ring to unify against his Filipino opponent. The “Monster” already had the WBO and WBC belts in his possession and now added the belts of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the IBF, which were in the possession of Tapales.
It was an entertaining fight in which Inoue was superior but Tapales came out to leave everything in the ring, without complications and fight hand to hand with the local. Good exchanges and action from start to finish were the constant in this confrontation that made the audience rise from their seats several times.
In the fourth episode, Inoue got a fall, the first of the night, which would lead him to victory and begin to tip the balance on his side definitively. The outcome came in the tenth with a blow to the face that sent Tapales to the canvas, who could not recover and heard the referee count 10.
Inoue made history by becoming undisputed champion in a new division, having won all four bantamweight titles in the past. His undefeated record now stands at 26 wins and 23 knockouts, while Tapales’s stands at 37 wins and 4 losses.
