WATCH: ‘Round of the year’ – Naoya Inoue and Marlon Tapales trade back and forth power shots in undisputed title bout

Japanese professional boxer Naoya Inoue secured a spectacular win against Filipino boxer Marlon Tapales in a highly exciting showdown. However, an exciting round 5 became the highlight of the fight.

WATCH: ‘Round of the year’ – Naoya Inoue and Marlon Tapales trade back and forth power shots in undisputed title bout

Naoya Inoue beat Marlon Tapales ( Image via X )

Naoya Inoue and Marlon Tapales traded back-to-back shots in a highly exciting boxing matchup. The fight took place at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Inoue had been undefeated in his 25-0 career, with 22 knockouts. Meanwhile, Tapales’ record dropped to 37-4 with 19 KOs.

Naoya Inoue defeated Marlon Tapales in 10 rounds. He became only the second person to achieve undisputed recognition in two divisions. Inoue landed 146 punches to Tapales’ 52 and connected with 43% of his power shots. He also outscored Tapales in body shots 39 to 17. 

YouTube video

The ‘Monster‘ jumped out to a big lead in the first three rounds, outscoring Tapales in power shots 24 to 5. In the first two rounds, Inoue landed 34% of his punches and 47% of his power shots. In round four, Inoue dropped Tapales with a big left hook. Then, in round 10, Tapales stumbled backward and fell to his knees after appearing to block a heavy right cross from Inoue. The power of the shot seemed to be too much for Tapales. 

FS Video

Marlon Tapales is a Filipino professional boxer. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super-bantamweight titles from April till his recent fight with Inoue.

Who will Naoya Inoue fight next?

Inoue now has an undefeated 26-0 record and championships in four weight classes. After his fight with Tapales, Inoue hinted that he wanted to stay at the super bantamweight level and would negotiate for a big 2024 fight. He previously told Boxing Scene that he planned to remain at junior featherweight through the end of 2024. Inoue’s immediate future will likely see him remain at 122lbs, where he is now the undisputed king.

Naoya Inoue
What is next for Naoya Inoue? ( Image via X )

It is rumored that Naoya Inoue will likely defend his WBC title against Luis Nery in May 2024. Nery is the WBC mandatory challenger with a record of 35-1 and 27 KOs. Inoue is negotiating to defend his WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO super-bantamweight world titles. Nery was previously banned from fighting in Japan by the Japanese Commission.

The Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) banned Luis Nery from boxing in Japan for life in 2018. The ban was due to Nery testing positive for the banned substance Zilpaterol before his fourth-round stoppage of Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2017. Nery also came in over the required weight before winning the 2018 rematch by TKO.

In case you missed it!