Naoya Inoue produced a boxing masterclass to comprehensively defeat Murodjon Akhmadaliev and retain his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles in Japan on Sunday.
Just hours after Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was dethroned as undisputed super-middleweight champion by the incredible Terence Crawford in a blockbuster and historic clash in Las Vegas, ‘The Monster’ easily avoided a similar fate as he totally outclassed his overmatched opponent throughout all 12 rounds of the high-profile main event at Nagoya’s newly-opened IG Arena.
Though there was no stoppage this time for one of the sport’s most formidable and destructive knockout artists, Inoue was still on top form to take a wide unanimous decision win on the scorecards - 117-111, 118-110 and 118-110 - and improve his unblemished professional record to 31-0 (27 KOs) in a 26th consecutive world title fight.
It was a sublime performance from Inoue in front of an adoring home crowd, showing his power and full range of punches in a tactically flawless outing against an opponent whom he believed would provide the most difficult challenge of his illustrious career so far.
It was more than enough to see the 32-year-old remain firmly on a collision course for an all-Japanese super-fight against unified WBC and IBF bantamweight world champion Junto Nakatani in Tokyo in 2026, with undefeated Mexican contender Alan Picasso Romero likely up first in Saudi Arabia later this year.
Akhmadaliev’s most successful moment of a one-sided contest came with a right hand that pushed Inoue back against the ropes with mere seconds remaining in the final round, but it was too little, too late from the Uzbekistani challenger, who suffered his second pro loss and first since losing the WBA and IBF unified super-bantamweight titles against Marlon Tapales in an upset in 2023, snapping a three-fight winning streak.
He did not lack heart and determination on the night, but will be disappointed not to have fared better in an opportunity that he had waited some two years for in an event that came with the telling tagline “be careful what you wish for”.
On Sunday’s undercard, Mexico’s Christian Medina produced a dominant display to stop Yoshiki Takei in the fourth round and become the new WBO bantamweight champion.
The first world title fight of the night ended in a scary clash of heads in the fifth round that left Yuni Takada needing medical attention and being stretchered out of the ring in worrying scenes.
Thankfully he was later reported to be okay and walking around after receiving stitches to a nasty wound, with muted celebrations from Ryusei Matsumoto after picking up the vacant WBA ‘regular’ minimumweight title by unanimous technical decision.
Earlier on, Taiga Imanaga beat Yudai Murakami to pick up the vacant Japanese lightweight title.
Shunpei Ohata defeated Ei Go, while Toshiki Shimomachi beat Han Sol Lee and Taisei Ayano was victorious over Yusuke Nawa.
