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Naoya Inoue stayed true to his "Monster" form as he won the undisputed championship again. Top Rank (file photo) |
MANILA--The wait for a Filipino undisputed boxing champ continues as Marlon Tapales fell prey to Japan's Naoya Inoue in their unification bout on Tuesday night at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
While later than what many expected, Inoue still found a way to finish off Tapales as he became only the second boxer to win the undisputed championship in two divisions after Terence Crawford earlier this year.
Inoue virtually dominated the bout from start to finish, although Tapales had his chances in the middle rounds.
After sizing up his opponent for the first three rounds, Tapales seemed poise to have found his rhythm come Round 4 as he became more active and tagged Inoue with some huge shots.
However, Inoue went on a barrage later in the round to score the first knockdown of the bout.
Inoue would continue to pounce on Tapales until early into Round 10 when Inoue delivered the knockout blow, a right hook to Tapales' head that sent the latter down for good at the 1:05 mark of the said round.
Inoue moved up to 26-0 with 23 knockouts even as he now owns all four belts on the line in the 122-pound division barely a year after becoming the undisputed champ at 118 pounds.
Tapales, on the other hand, fell to 37-4 as his four-bout winning streak came to an end.
With Tapales relinquishing his IBF and WBA 122-pound titles to Inoue, the Philippines will end 2023 without a world boxing champion
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