BY JAKE DONOVAN
December 29, 2023
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
There will come a time when Naoya Inoue can sit back and enjoy this historic run.
It’s business as usual for now, for the four-division champion and longtime pound-for-pound entrant. The latest entry in this incredible stretch came Tuesday, when Inoue knocked out the Philippines’ Marlon Tapales in the tenth round of their undisputed junior featherweight championship Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
The win marked the third consecutive fight where Inoue has established an historic mark for his native Japan.
“It’s beginning to dawn on me that all of these fights are big challenges,” Inoue told BoxingScene.com. “One day when I look back at my boxing career, I will be able to look back with pride over all that I will have accomplished.”
Yokohama’s Inoue (26-0, 23KOs) won his first major title in his seventh pro fight and really never looked back.
Tuesday marked his ninth consecutive fight with more than one title at stake. It was also the fourth consecutive bout where he’s dethroned an active titleholder. That run dates back to his second-round knockout of Nonito Donaire in their lineal, WBC, WBA and IBF bantamweight unification championship last June at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo.
The venue hosted their memorable November 2019 meeting. Inoue overcame a fractured orbital bone to drop and eventually outpoint Donaire to defend his IBF title and win both the WBA title and World Boxing Super Series bantamweight championship.
Inoue became the first Asian undisputed champion in the three- or four-belt era after an eleventh-round knockout of WBO titlist Paul Butler last December 13 at Ariake Arena. The same location hosted Inoue’s eighth-round knockout of unbeaten WBC/WBO junior featherweight titlist Stephen Fulton on July 25, when he became Japan’s first-ever unified champion at two or more weights.
The win over Tapales saw Inoue win his second undisputed championship in just 54 weeks, far surpassing the amount of time it took predecessors Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (73 months) and Claressa Shields (23 months [first and second undisputed run] and 21 months [second and third undisputed]).
“We always had the goal to create history,” insisted Inoue.
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