Can anyone compete with Naoya Inoue? The answer to that question seems to be “no.”
Marlon Tapales gave the talented Japanese star more resistance than most of his opponents, but he suffered the same fate as all but three, being knocked out by his fellow unified 122-pound champion in the 10th round on December 26 in Tokyo.
Inoue made history in the process. He became the second boxer in the four-belt era to win every major title in a second division. Terence Crawford was the first to do it.
And Inoue continued to make his case that he is the best fighter in the world, even though he is ranked No. 2 behind Crawford on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list.
Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) controlled the fight from start to finish, but took more hits than usual and had difficulty breaking down the resilient Tapales (37-4, 19 KOs).
The Filipino southpaw went down under a series of hard blows to the head and body in the fourth round, which seemed to be the beginning of the end. However, he survived that adversity to do his best work in Rounds 7 and 8.
Tapales found a way to land counters more consistently than he did earlier in the fight and took everything Inoue threw at him in those rounds.
However, his recovery (if that was what it was) did not last long. Inoue, who remained persistent throughout, gave notice that he wanted another early night by hurting Tapales with a combination of powerful punches late in the ninth round.
The end came in the next round. Naoya broke Tapales’ guard with a right hand that forced his opponent to his knees and then to all fours. And he couldn’t get up, making him “The Monster’s” seventh consecutive knockout victim.
That made him an easy pick for Boxing Junkie’s Fighter of the Month.
And he doesn’t seem to slow down at 30 years old. We have a feeling there will be plenty more accolades to come – perhaps pound-for-pound number one? – will arrive before all is said and done.
