Naoya Inoue’s reign continues following a unanimous decision victory over Junto Nakatani today at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs) defended his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles in a reasonably assured manner, but would have to overcome a resurgence from Nakatani in the later rounds to keep his undisputed status. However, following a strong final two rounds all three judges gave Inoue a relatively comfortable decision with scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 116-112. Nakatani (32-1, 24 KOs) records a first career defeat in his second fights at 122 pounds.
Inoue’s illustrious entrance at the 55,000 seater Tokyo Dome was almost as impressive as his accolades. Inoue made Nakatani wait some time as he calmly walked to the ring with an intent gaze on his target ahead of his 28th consecutive world title fight and his eighth consecutive undisputed title fight at super bantamweight.
Inoue landed a pair of glancing right hands to the body at the start of a tentative opening round. There was little to write home about until Inoue caught Nakatani a little off balance with a right hand in the final 30 seconds. Inoue accelerated an attack to close the round with a not-so-clean an overhand right.
Inoue pressed forward behind an over stretched left jab missing the target to the body with his right at the start of round two. The pace slowed as the session progressed, but it was Inoue fighting with more intent. Nakatani missed Inoue by hair’s width with a straight left hand as he attacked the body in the highlight of the round.
Nothing of note continued to not find the target for either man going well into the third round. Inoue was landing sparing shots, mostly a right to the body, but Nakatani was offering little so far in the biggest fight in his country’s boxing history.
Inoue appeared to be eager to push through the gears at the start of the fourth, aggressively jumping forward to land a double jab and right to the body. Nakatani did draw a reaction from a quick left hand, but it landed with minimal conviction. Inoue attacked in the final round with a left to the body and right to the chin, but Nakatani returned a better left hand than before.
Round five promised some action as the end of the previous round saw the activity pick up. Inoue seemed to mimic Nakatani, but would eat a jab seconds later. However, Inoue walked straight through it, and would return a good right hand shortly after. Nakatani landed a decent right to the body followed by a left hook to the guard in the closing stages, in his best round of the bout so far.
Inoue launched forward to miss a right to the body and would receive a straight punch to the chin at the start of the sixth round. However, he would walk into Inoue’s right hand as the final minute approached. A rapid combination to Nakatani’s guard drew another reaction from the crowd, but it was the challenger who ended the round with his better timed combination.
Nakatani was improving following a quiet start and landed a right hook to begin round seven, but Inoue’s double jab and right to the body was always a threat. Inoue landed another big right to the chin to take back authority, whose constant activity always had Nakatani thinking.
Inoue jumped forward with the double jab, pressing forward to land shots on the inside to start round eight. The champion had some extra intent as the round progressed, regularly landing the double jab and solid right hands. Nakatani launched a left hand, but Inoue took more wind out of his sails by jumping in and out of danger to the crowd’s pleasure. However, Nakatani caught Inoue with a left hand to end the period.
The tempo slowed in the opening round until Nakatani landed a nice combination to the head, but his punches were never causing any real harm to his adversary. Inoue landed a crowd pleasing left jab, darting to his left to force Nakatani to reset. However, Nakatani ended the round strong with an overhand left.
Nakatani came out the more aggressive in round ten, but Inoue returned a flashy combination. Nakatani wouldn’t be deterred to land his best punch of the fight, a sneaky overhand right that snapped Inoue’s head back. Inoue appeared to be struggling with Nakatani attempting to walk him down. The God’s looked down on Inoue when moments later Nakatani received a deep cut on the eyebrow from an accidental head clash. Following a quick check from the ringside doctor, Nakatani pushed on, landing a good body shot on his incoming opponent.
The momentum had shifted in Nakatani’s favor going into round eleven, but Inoue landed a right to the chin in apparent shift of his own composure. More good work followed, with the champion landing a big uppercut. It was now Inoue on the front foot as Nakatani was struggling with the cut. Inoue landed another highlight-worthy right uppercut to shake his countryman to the core.
Inoue had dug himself out of hole, in the eleventh, but would walk on to a clubbing left hand in the opening seconds of the twelfth and final round. The closing moments of the biggest fight in Japanese history saw Inoue on the front foot as Nakatani’s resurgence had depleted.
