One year after becoming the first four-belt, undisputed champion in bantamweight history, pound-for-pound great Naoya Inoue joined even more rarefied air atop the sport by joining Terence Crawford as the only boxers to achieve such a distinction in a second weight class.
In yet another sensational display of his growing legend, Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) scored a 10th-round knockout Tuesday morning of unified titleholder Marlon Tapales (37-4, 19 KOs) inside Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The Japanese "Monster," already a four-division champion, unified all four titles at 122 pounds in a fight that was more competitive than many predicted thanks to the toughness and adaptability of the Filipino southpaw.
"First and foremost, I would like to give a big shout out to Marlon Tapales for taking the fight with me," Inoue said, through a translator. "I think super bantamweight is my division for now so in 2024, my goal is to show myself at super bantamweight in an even finer form."
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Whether or not Inoue was able to regain his claim as P4P king following Crawford's July destruction of fellow unified welterweight king Errol Spence Jr. remains to be seen. But Inoue likely bested Crawford from the standpoint of boxer of the year voting, five months after he finished unbeaten Stephen Fulton Jr. via eighth-round TKO in a one-sided dismantling to announce himself at junior featherweight.
"I am so relieved at the moment because I became victorious against such a strong and spirited opponent in Marlon Tapales," Inoue said. "Thank you so much for fighting me and I'm so happy to get the stoppage in such a decisive manner."
The 31-year-old Tapales showed a great chin and a crafty style to make Inoue earn it and he succeeded in the middle rounds of lowering Inoue's output thanks to timely counter shots. But from a statistical standpoint, he was badly outgunned.
Inoue landed nearly three times the punches as Tapales -- 146 to 52, according to CompuBox -- and connected 43% of his power shots. Inoue also outlanded Tapales to the body by a margin of 39 to 17.
Inoue, 30, jumped out to a huge lead in the opening three rounds, outscoring Tapales in terms of power shots connected by an overwhelming margin of 24 to 5. Things got worse for Tapales in Round 4 when a big left hook rocked him before combinations from Inoue floored him late in the round, but Tapales was able to beat the count.
"He never showed me fatigue or the damage from hits," Inoue said. "I couldn't see from his face so I was quite surprised when he nearly made it to the end of the 10th round. It was one such very intensive fight that I have ever had before, probably. But my corner kept me very focused throughout the bout."
Tapales, who upset unbeaten Murodjon Akhmadaliev via split decision in April to claim the IBF and WBA titles, bit down on the mouthguard as the two traded punches at close range in an exciting Round 5, even though Inoue would nearly triple Tapales in punches landed.
Intelligent pressure from Tapales, who began to employ a shoulder roll, continued to force Inoue into adjustments as the fight became more competitive in the second half. Eventually, however, Inoue's pinpoint accuracy became too much as a right cross split the guard of Tapales in Round 10 to create a delayed knockdown.
Referee Celestino Ruiz waived off the fight at 1:02 of the round as Tapales was unable to make it to his feet in time.
"I think the people already know about the rumor of the upcoming fight in May but I can't say much about this yet because we are under negotiation," Inoue said, regarding his future.
