The Japanese boxing showdown of all time in Tokyo Dome in front of 55.000 spectators was won by Naoya Inoue, who defeated Junto Nakatani by unanimous decision and defended his title as the absolute world super bantamweight champion (116-112, 115-113 and 116-112).
According to The Ring magazine, the second best boxer in the world according to P4P, 33-year-old Naoja, nicknamed the Monster, celebrated his 33rd victory, and 27 times he did it by knockout, even though he boxes in lower weight categories.
Naoja is the second boxer in history to hold the title of absolute champion in two weight categories, and before him only Terence Crawford (in the four-belt era) managed to do so.
Both boxers entered the Tokyo ring undefeated with a score of 32:0, only Nakatani moved up a weight class at the end of last year.
Inoue went on the attack early, but after half the fight Nakatani was closing the gap, but in a clash of heads at the end of the 10th round, a wound opened above the challenger's eye, which stopped his attacks.
"Today I fulfilled the plan I outlined before the fight, to stay focused on winning, to make sure that I would come out on top. As you all know, Nakatani is a mentally strong boxer. The fact that he is among the best 1) in the world makes this fight even more valuable to me," said Naoja.
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