Naoya Inoue overcame Junto Nakatani in a competitive bout to underline his reputation as one of the modern era’s greatest pound-for-pound champions, handing his Japanese rival the first loss of his own illustrious career.
As Boxing Social’s reporter Adam Noble-Forcey wrote in his live report, victory for Inoue came in a “reasonably assured manner” though he had to thwart “a resurgence from Nakatani in the later rounds to keep his undisputed status” in the division.
Indeed, scoring in those final, championship rounds provided critical to keeping his own unbeaten record in tact, advancing his resume to 33-0 (27 KOs) against an extraordinary champion, to stake his claim as the No.1 in the entire sport at a time in which another elite fighter, Oleksandr Usyk takes a step down by contesting a novelty match against the kickboxing icon, Rico Verhoeven.
As Boxing Social’s Carlos Linares said in his post-fight reflection on X, the scoring of the contest was narrow up until round 10.
“One judge had it 97-93 for Naoya,” Linares noted, “another scored it 95-95, and the third had it 96-94.”
He added: “Those two key late rounds ultimately secured Inoue the decision victory. After the cut [to Nakatani]. Solid win and fair scorecards overall.”
See footage of the cut Nakatani suffered late in the fight right here:
That cut preceded a rally from Inoue, which helped bring home the win.
This is how things ended:
Even the punch stats showed Nakatani came alive in the eighth, and, perhaps, could have sustained that momentum switch had it not been for the later cut.
But, ultimately, Inoue battled back to keep hold of the lead he’d built up in the earlier rounds.
