By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Unbeaten “Monster” Naoya Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs), 121.75, impressively defeated WBA interim ruler and ex-Olympic bronze medalist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (14-2, 11 KOs), 121.5, Uzbekistan, by a unanimous decision to retain his undisputed super bantamweight belts over twelve technical rounds on Sunday at the newly opened IG Arena, Nagoya, Japan.
Mike Fitzgerald (US) and Juan Carlos Pelayo (Mexico) both saw it 118-110, and Gerardo Martinez (Puerto Rico) 117-111, all in favor of Monster Inoue. The referee was Bence Kovacs (Hungary).
Inoue, 32, failed to score an expected knockout, but he completely outspeeded, outboxed and outlegged the formidable opponent with his superior speed, skills and strategy. MJ, 30, seldom caught up with the fast-moving champ, who, however, occasionally fought the Uzbekistani toe-to-toe in the center of the squared circle. The audience truly appreciate Naoya’s versatile capacity in outboxing the tough opponent on his “hit without getting hit” strategy.
The boxing world had regarded Inoue as a small Tyson always to be eager to destroy his opponent from the start, but tonight Naoya showed another side of his arsenal to be a small Muhammed Ali floating like a butterfly and punching like a bee.
Naoya’s knockout streak, however, stopped at eleven since his first Nonito Donaire fight. His KO mark as the 122-pound champ also stopped at five, though our hardcore aficionados expected Inoue to break the record of Wilfredo Gomez having retained his super bantam belt by a knockout in seventeen consecutive defenses.
Having hit the deck twice in his recent defenses at the hand of Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas, some experts criticized Inoue, saying he’s coming to the end of his peak or he’s void of defensive skills. But Monster Inoue displayed his technique, averting almost all shots from Akhmadaliev.
The victor Naoya asked the audience from the ring, “How about my outboxing (ability)? Am I coming to the limit of my peak?” The crowd, greatly stunned by Inoue’s quite different performance from their expectation, seemingly deeply appreciated his speed and skills.
Quite unbruised after the competition, Naoya said, “I tried to follow our fight plan not to absorb Akhmadaliev’s power punches. I believe I could completely control the fight with my superior skills. I am satisfied to be able to display another ability of myself.”
The loser Murodjon didn’t appear the post-fight press conference, but one of his trainers Armando Diaz, on his behalf, admitted his man’s defeat and said, “Simply Inoue was stronger and faster than Akhmadaliev. That’s all.”
Naoya mentioned his next will take place in Saudi Arabia in December. It will be publicly announced in detail very soon.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions.
Supervisors:
WBC Mike George (US), WBA Jose Oliver Gomez (Panama), IBF Massimiliano Bianco (Italy), WBO Leon Panoncillo (US).
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/628407
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