When it comes to Japanese fighters at the moment there is no one who has excited the boxing world quite like WBO Super Flyweight champion Naoya Inoue (13-0, 11) [井上 尚弥],who was in action earlier today, and successfully recorded his 5th defenses of his world title. And he did so whilst hardly breaking sweat against the #2 ranked WBO challenger, American based Mexican Ricardo Rodriguez (16-4, 5), who had never previously been stopped.
The bout started with both men looking to control the range, but it was Inoeu's razor sharp jab and incredible footwork that controlled the round. The Mexican had his moments, but they were few and far between whilst Inoue's jab looked a consistent threat and he landed a wonderfully flurry late in the round, as well as an incredible left hand, that seemed to make Rodriguez realise that he was in there with an incredible talent. The second round saw Rodriguez become more adventurous but again it was Inoue's footwork and jab that controlled the action, with Rodriguez falling short with a number of shots, and hitting the guard on the few times he was close enough to connect. The Mexican was showing his fighting spirit but had no answer to Inoue, who landed a huge straight late in the round and a brutal body shot as he began to move through the gears. Rodriguez knew the task was getting harder and harder with Inoue starting to look increasingly more offensive. That offense was too much in round 3 with a left hook dropping the challenger. Rodriguez, to his credit, got to his feet, but it was the start of the end and another left hook dropped him for the counter, giving Inoue his 5th defense of the title. With the win under his belt Inoue is now set to make his US debut, with a September date pencilled in, with HBO likely to televise the bout. That will see Inoue build on his reputation as one of the best fighters in the sport. For Rodriguez the loss will damage his career, and it's unlikely he will be getting another title fight any time soon.
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The second of 7 world title bouts to end the in Japan was a WBO Super Flyweight title bout that saw defending champion Naoya Inoue (12-0, 10) [井上 尚弥] retain his title in a brilliantly fun fight against the aggressive and tough Kohei Kono (32-10-1, 13) [河野 公平] in a genuine exciting fight.
From the opening seconds it was clear that Kono wasn't in the ring to make up numbers and within a minute he was launching hooks and trying to put Inoue under pressure. Sadly for Kono that wasn't hugely effective in the first round as Inoue's speed and skills saw him land some nasty shots, and he seemed to shake Kono in the final moments of the round. Kono is known as the “Tough Boy” for a reason and proved that in round 2 when he continued to apply the pressure and steamed in again in an offensive manner. Again he was punished with Inoue landing some really brutal body shots that would have taken out most other foes. Kono on the some how saw out the round with going down but he had been badly hurt before the bell. Kono refused to learn his lesson and continued to apply the same game plan in round 3, and again took some abuse to the body. It was however a better round for Kono who seemed to realise that his offense was causing Inoue to put limit what he was doing and despite taking some monstrous body shots he withstood most of the Inoue assault with no real issue. Kono continued to build on that success with an excellent round 4, a round in which he seemed to genuinely win with sheer determination and work rate, despite a vicious combination at the end from Inoue. We saw Kono continue to attack in an ultra-aggressive manner through round 5 and once again he seemed to have Inoue hadcuffed at times while unloading flurry after flurry. Not every shot from the challenger got through but there was enough getting through to give him half a hope as Inoue seemed to slow down. Although Kono was having success Inoue didn't look too bothered by things, but was clearly under some pressure. Sadly for Kono the ultra-aggressive tactic became his undoing in round 6 when he was caught by a frighteningly good counter shot from Inoue. The shot sent Kono down hard and it seemed unlikely Kono would beat the count, so much saw that Inoue rushed the corner and started celebrating. Amazingly Kono regained his feet, and the referee allowed him to go on. It was however a futile effort and a follow up from Inoue sent the challenger down for the second time, this time causing the referee to wave the bout off. For Kono, who suffered his first stoppage loss here, this is probably the end. He was game and brave through the bout, giving Inoue one of his most interesting tests to date, but it was likely a case of “giving everything and going out on your shield to end your career” rather than anything else. As for the champion his attention surely turns, once again, to unification bouts and other notable opponents with contests against the likes of Roman Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada, Carlos Cuadras, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Kal Yafai, Johnriel Casimero and Jerwin Ancajas all really attractive propositions in the red hot Super Flyweight division. His stoppage here was a much needed statement after some less than flattering performances recent and it may well have put the division on alert once again, much as he did when he took out Omar Andres Narvaez in 2 rounds at the end of 2014. Earlier today “The Monster” Naoya Inoue (11-0, 9) [井上 尚弥] returned to Zama for his first fight at home in 3 years and gave the local fans exactly what they wanted as he scored a 10th round win over gutsy Thai Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (38-8-1, 18) [เพชรบางบอน ก่อเกียรติยิม] The Japanese fighter showed a bit of everything in his arsenal for the fans who saw him box, fight, brawl and eventually finish his man. The fight started rather slowly with both men looking to establish their jabs though quickly heated up with Inoue bringing in his combinations, tagging the body hard and even hurting the Thai with a right hand near the end of the right. Petchbarngborn, to his credit, looked calm and composed for the most part but it was clear that Inoue had gears to go through. Inoue started to go through some of those gears at times in round 2 as he showed both his boxing ability, jabbing and moving and keeping Petchbarngborn from setting himself at all, and his fighting ability taking the action to the Thai and unloading some frightening combinations. It was clear the Japanese youngster had no intention of seeking an early finish and was instead using the early rounds to try things out and box well within himself. As we went through round 3 it seemed Inoue was getting more and more satisfied with his work and he began to really put on a showcase with some gorgeous punch picking to both head an body and sublime movement that left Petchbarngborn chasing shadows. The following round saw Inoue become a pure boxer moving and refusing to throw almost any right hands, depending almost entirely on the jab, as if it was a jab-only sparring session. Having become comfortable with his jab Inoue allowed Petchbarngborn to bring the fight too him and the two spent much of round 5 trading shots on the inside, with the Thai having some success, including several low ones that left Inoue showing his inexperience and dropping his hands. The Thai got several free shots on Inoue, to little effect, but was later punished by the Japanese youngster who really took it to the Thai with nasty body shots later in the round. With Petchbarngborn's confidence growing he started to take the fight to Inoue again in round 6 and seem to catch the Japanese fighter behind the head at one point. From then on however Inoue seemed to begin to take things seriously and started to use the Thai for target practice with Petchbarngborn looking weary walking to his corner to end the round. It was as if he'd tried all his tricks and they'd had success, but he'd been given a beating for trying them. Having allowed Petchbarngborn moments in rounds 7 and 8 Inoue got on his big in round 9 and mentally tortured the Thai with his movement and jab. It was mental torture for the challenger, who didn't take much a physical battering but struggled to land anything the entire round whilst being fed a steady diet of jabs. Having sharpened his tools through the first 9 rounds Inoue began to show what he was truly capable of in round 10 letting a 2 fisted attack go that hurt the Thai. With his man hurt Inoue went on the all out offensive with Petchbarngborn firing back whilst on the retreat. Sadly for the challenger he was unable to stop the onslaught, despite showing unreal toughness, and eventually went down. He had taken a hiding in the round and yet still tried to get to his feet, but was counted out in the act of rising. The performance, for fans watching, wasn't the most impressive from Inoue however it looked like a controlled performance for the most part. Almost as if he was focusing on particular things rather than being his most destructive. It was a performance that seemed more like a spar at times. But when he went to close the show he did close it. For Petchbarngborn his performance was really credible. He showed his toughness and, looking at this performance, he may well have given Paul Butler fits had Butler not failed to make weight. He had his moments against Inoue but never looked like he was going to make much of a dent on the Monster, other than the low blows he landed relative early on. After the fight Inoue's right hand did appear to have been damaged as his team cut the wraps off, but it wasn't massively bad, like it has been in the past when it's been swollen, and it should be fine going forward. It will however be at the back of his mind in the coming days as he travels to the US to watch next weekend's “Super Fight” between Roman Gonzalez and Carlos Cuadras. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) Just moments ago Japanese fans, and those international fans with streams for Fuji TV, saw Japanese wunderkind Naoya Inoue (10-0, 8) [井上 尚弥] make the second defense of his WBO Super Flyweight title as he over-came tough mandatory challenger David Carmona (20-3-5, 8) and a serious injury.
In the opening seconds Inoue made his intent known, landing a huge shot up top that seemed to wobble Carmona, who instantly backed up looking and looked to become the counter puncher for the round. It worked in spells, but those spells were few and far between Inoue consistently finding a home for power shots, one of which stunned Carmona just before the bell. The second round was a more controlled effort from Inoue who picked his shots better than he had in the opening and applied more intelligent pressure looking for holes in Carmona's tight defense. Given how tight Carmona's defense was and how unwilling he was to let his hands go when Inoue was coming forward it seemed that Inoue looked to change tactic in round 3 when he began to back up and almost allow Carmona to let his hands go a little. That didn't last long however as Inoue's aggressive instincts kicked in half way through the round and he just easily walked Carmona backwards. Carmona did however end the round with some aggression and it seemed almost like he had found a footing in the bout. Having had some success in round 3 Carmona began to fight more aggressively in round 4. The higher level of aggression from Carmona seemed to be want Inoue was wanting and half way through round 4 the Monster found some solid shots through the guard of Carmona. Following those solid shots Carmona went back on to defense and spent almost a minute looking to avoid Inoue. Carmona did try and show some offense late but by then it was too little too late. Round 5 was another where Carmona was willingly backing up with only moments of offense. Those moments were probably foolish as they ended up really annoying Inoue who went into “seek and destroy” mode battering Carmona around the ring for almost a minute as the Monster smelled blood. To his credit Carmona saw out the round without being dropped but it was a nightmare round for the challenger. After having shown some vicious intent in round 5 Inoue eased off during the early stages of round 6, but still managed to land the most eye catching shots of the round. Carmona, at one point, got Inoue on the ropes but was given a beating following it and appeared to be a fighter living on grit and determination alone. At the end of round 6 it seemed that Inoue had hurt his right hand and through round 7 he fought very cautiously, using only his lead hand on a consistent basis, and relying on the experience of his fight with Yuki Sano. Even one handed Inoue seemed to out box Carmona, though was much less explosive than he had been in rounds 5 and 6. The boxing skills of Inoue were on show again in round 8 as he again fought 1 handed. Carmona had much more success, seemingly realising he was up against a 1-handed fighter. Although Carmona had the hand advantage he lacked the skills and speed to cope with Inoue who found a home for his jab and hook, and did, albeit rarely, unload with the right hand. By round 9 the pace and excitement of the bout had died. Inoue was too good for Carmona, even with one hand, for the Mexican to try to be too adventurous whilst Inoue was showing caution and when he did, sparingly, use the right hand it was aimed at the body of Carmona. In round 10 it seemed like Inoue was willing to risk his right hand again and and unloaded a 2-fisted assault on Carmona after hurting the Mexican. Carmona, to his genuine credit, saw out the storm once again. Round 11 was another quieter round, with Inoue happy to win the round boxing and not take any real risks. In the final round however Inoue began to seek a stoppage again and went after Carmona as the crowd suddenly woke up, dropping the Mexican with about 30 seconds left. Inoue could smell the unlikely stoppage and went off unloading on the Mexican who just did enough to see out the bell, and the 12 rounds. The 10-8 in round 12 helped secure a wide win for Inoue with scores of 118-109, 118-109 and a bizarrely close 116-111. It also gave him his first complete 12 round bout. Although Inoue wasn't his most impressive here, or even close to his most destructive, he showed poise and genuine calmness despite the hand injury. He showed that he can cope when he's having to go through real adversity and that he has the skills to cope fighting one handed against a world ranked opponent, something he had done at the Japanese level against Yuki Sano. Sadly however the injury, a recurring injury, does leave us with serious questions about how long Inoue will be out of the ring, and how the hand will hold up in the future. Last time he injured it he was out for a year and to see him waste another year of his career on recovering would be a real shame. Given how he fought in the final round however it could be that the injury isn't as serious as it had been in the past. Last December we saw Naoya Inoue (9-0, 8) destroy Omar Andres Narvaez in 2 rounds to stamp his claim as the 2014 Fight of the Year, sadly however that win saw him damage his right hand and spend almost a year out of the ring. That year seems to have seen Inoue build up some pent up frustration that came out today when he destroyed mandatory challenger Warlito Parrenas (24-7-1, 21) in less than a round and a half. The opening round was a relatively dull one. Parrenas tried to apply intelligent pressure behind a high guard and came forward but seemed very reluctant to let hi hands go. Inoue picked his spots to let shots go, but mostly seemed to hit the guard of Parrenas, though one or two did get through. It had the look of a frustrating night for both The Monster and the fans. In round two however Inoue had a quick break through and quickly staggered Parrenas with a right hand. Only moments later Parrenas was down, courtesy of another right hand. The Filipino challenger was hurt on the canvas but his fighters instinct saw him get up. Inoue lay in wait, almost licking his lips knowing that the end was imminent. As soon as Parrenas was ready to continue Inoue went on the hunt and only moments later he scored the second knockdown, this time the referee did the merciful thing and stopped the action, putting Parrenas out of his misery. For Inoue, who has now made the first defense of his title, we're expecting to see a swift return to the ring, and suspicion is that Hideyuki Ohashi will be in talks, possibly later this week, with American TV about getting The Monster Stateside for a bout in Spring. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) In professional boxing it can be very easy to get lost in hype. The American and British boxing media want to hype everyone that is shown on their airwaves. Sadly however sometimes the best aren't shown on "Western TV", the best example of that is Naoya Inoue (8-0, 7) who lived up to his moniker of "Monster" earlier today when he destroyed Argentinian stalwart Omar Andres Narvaez (43-2-2, 23) in the most explosive, destructive and violent performance of his career and claimed the WBO Super Flyweight title, becoming the fastest man in history to become a 2-weight world champion. In fact so perfect was this performance that Inoue may actually be the best fighter on the planet, it might be that Inoue is the only man we would favour over Roman Gonzalez in the lower weights, and more worryingly he's only getting better. The youngster from Kanagawa started fast. And we mean fast landing big shots almost from the opening seconds, shots that quickly sent Narvaez down. In fact Inoue sent Narvaez down inside a minute, Nonito Donaire couldn't manage it in 12 rounds. Inoue wasn't happy with just the one knockdown however and went looking for a stoppage in same round. Soon afterwards Narvaez was down a second time and Inoue went on the prowl smelling bleed. His prey knew what was coming however and Narvaez went into survival mode, hoping to see off the incoming storm. Narvaez managed to see out the opening round but then came the second round and Inoue again smelled victory. He went on the offensive quickly and although he was forced to eat a powerful straight it seemed to just bounce off him. Narvaez had nothing and was again sent to the canvas for the third knockdown of the fight. From then on it was a matter of time, time that was cut short as Inoue found the body of Narvaez and hammered away, repeatedly sinking in shots to the gut until Narvaez went down for a fourth time! This time he stayed down, there was no point in attempting to come back. After the bout the Inoue clan, and the Ohashi gym members, celebrated with Inoue who hasn't just stamped his name in the history books but has stamped his name on the "Fighter of the Year" and "Performance of the Year" awards. For those publications that have already down your rewards, we hope you feel silly given how amazing Inoue looked here. We suspect Inoue will be back in action in early 2015, at the end of the fight he hardly looked touched, not a mark on his face. Sometimes action speak louder than words, and this performance speaks a million words. For those who missed it, the fight can be seen in full here. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) When we see boxing fans talk about super talents we always make sure to mention WBC Light Flyweight champion Naoya Inoue (7-0, 6) who claimed a world title in just his 6th bout by stopping Mexican veteran Adrian Hernandez in 6 rounds earlier this year. In that fight Inoue announced himself on to the world stage in impressive fashion as if to tell the world "I'm a future legend" Today Inoue effectively waved good bye to the 108lb Flyweight division as he successfully defended his title beat up the game but limited Samartlek Koietgym (17-5, 5) to record his first defence. Inoue was in charge from the opening round and it was incredibly clear that the two men were in completely different leagues to each other. Samartlek, to his credit, refused to be intimidated and tried to fight back, even landing some flush power shots of his own, though all they seemed to do was bounce off Inoue as if they were nothing. In some ways it was disappointing that Inoue wasn't showing off his defensive ability though in other ways it was a case of the Japanese youngster showing how exciting he can be when he's on seek and destroy mode, similar to how he was against Jerson Mancio. As the bout progressed Inoue became more and more aggressive, dropping Samartlek in round 4 and then beating him down over the following, one sided, rounds. He went from landing thudding single shots that snapped back Smartleks head to full blown combo's of power shots that were as genius as they were sickening. The head and body of Samartlek were targeted with the "Monster" switching between the two at will and punishing Samartlek every time the Thai threw a shot in anger. The combinations just got better and better from Inoue who finally forced the referee to step in round 11 after landing, flush, with a monstrous right hand. It was the straw that broke the camels back and although Samartlek was on his feet he was in a major hole on the scorecards and taking a really vicious beating. It was clearly a mercy stoppage but it was the right thing to do considering how many flush shots Samartlek had been eating and how little he had been firing at Inoue. Prior to the fight Inoue had made it clear that he had been struggling to make the 108lb limit and it now seems certain that he will vacate Light Flyweight to begin his campaign at Flyweight. At 112lbs we expect to see Inoue tighten up his defence though there is no doubt he's going to be a real nightmare to anyone at Flyweight. Hopefully no Flyweight looks at this performance and thinks that they saw the best of Inoue, they really didn't. What they saw was a man looking to excite fans, not show off how truly exceptional he is. (Image courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp) Sometimes in boxing it can be hard to live up to expectation. We've seen countless fighters over the years fail to fulfil their potential and in fact fall short very early on their careers. Today however Japanese youngster Naoya Inoue (6-0, 5) lived up to his promise as he scored an historic victory over experienced Mexican Adrian Hernandez (29-3-1, 18) and claimed the WBC Light Flyweight title in just 6th professional contest. The Mexican fighter had been the longest reigning active champion at 108lbs going in to this bout but looked like a novice in their early on as Inoue got to work from the opening round. The Japanese used his stunning hand speed to to tag Hernandez with several hard shots, including some eye catching ones to the body. It seemed obvious that Inoue was going to tag the midsection of Hernandez after the Mexican had looked skeletal on the scales yesterday. Although Inoue had clearly won the opening round it was widely accepted that Hernandez was a slow starter and in the second round the Mexican did come alive, at least momentarily, before Inoue re-assumed control and began to back up Hernandez. Midway through the second round Inoue went back to the body, digging in hard shots whilst backing up Hernandez. It was amazing to think that Inoue was the apparent "boy" in the "man against boy" analogy when it was Hernandez pushed backwards and looking like a relatively lost fighter. The shocking thing, for Hernandez anyway, was that even when he connected with something big it had no effect on Inoue. It seemed the vaunted power of "Big Bang" had been taken in his battle with the scales and Inoue seemed to recognise it as he started to take a few more risks. A big shot from Hernandez landed about 2 minutes in to round 3 and all it seemed to do was make Inoue more determined to punish the Mexican who was beginning to be broken up physically as seen in a cut he suffered over his left eye at the end of the third stanza. The cut of Hernandez's was nasty though it seemed to almost inspire him at the start of round 4 as he tried to derail Inoue. All he did however was give Inoue more chances to hurt him and the early assault of the Mexican was soon forgotten as Inoue proved he could go to war just as well as he could box. The fourth was easily the closest round up to that point but it was another that appeared to show Inoue was simply too strong for the Mexican who looked like a man who had tried his best and knew he simply couldn't hang with the Japanese fighter. After the 4 rounds the open scoring was simple, 40-36 to Inoue across the board, it was hard to argue with those scores with it perhaps being possible to give round 4 as a 10-10 if you felt like being generous to the Mexican. Inoue's control of the bout continued in round 5 as he continued to do as he wished. Although Hernandez did manage to the youngster against the ropes at one point there was never any danger for Inoue who really did look like he was fun in there as he got a chance to show off every facet of his game. When he wanted to box on the move he was doing so, when he wanted to counter he did so and when he wanted to go to war he did. Hernandez tried valiantly to take the fight to Inoue in round 6 but by now Inoue was simply too comfortable and sat in the pocket willing to trade shots in the knowledge that Hernandez simply couldn't hurt him. He, however, could hurt Hernandez and a vicious assault with less than 30 seconds left sent Hernandez down. Although the Mexican got up he had had enough and the referee knew it waving it off rather than giving Hernandez the extra few seconds that he could have done. An elated Inoue celebrated with the Ohashi team that are behind him and playfully asked the fans if the belt looked good on him as he wore it over his shoulder. He then thanked his father and trainer, Shingo, as well as Ohashi Chairman Hideyuki Ohashi. The celebrations did take an unexpectedly funny turn however when Shingo was almost dropped as someone paraded him on his shoulders. As the TV camera cut away the Inoue family stood united with Naoya being flanked by younger brother Takuma, who himself had scored a great win over Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr earlier on the card, and Shingo who is surely on his way to an Eddie Townsend award. (Image courtesy of Boxingnews.jp) |
World Title Results
Whether you like them or not World Titles add prestige to any bout as a result we've included the results of world title bouts in this special section. Archives
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