“Monster” Inoue remains unbeaten and wins on points against Nakatani in the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.
Naoya Inoue defeated Junto Nakatani by unanimous decision on points in the biggest boxing match in Japan’s rich martial arts history. At the historic Tokyo Dome in Japan, in front of 55,000 spectators, ring announcer Michael Buffer announced the scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Inoue, who thus celebrated his 33rd victory in his 33rd professional fight.
Inoue (33-0, 27 knockouts) successfully defended his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO world super bantamweight titles. Nevertheless, Nakatani posed major problems for the champion, especially in the later rounds. Inoue had to fight through tough closing phases, but prevailed in the final rounds and secured the points victory in the Japanese capital.
Nakatani (32-1, 24 knockouts) thus suffered the first defeat of his career in his second fight in the 122-pound limit. The former world champion in three weight classes started the fight rather cautiously, but was able to convince in the second half of the fight. After a strong phase in the middle rounds, Nakatani shifted the momentum to his side at times.
However, after suffering a cut in the tenth round due to an accidental headbutt, Inoue regained control in the ring and dominated the closing rounds to secure his eighth win in an Undisputed super bantamweight title fight.