TOKYO, December 30 ------ Japan's Naoya Inoue said he was still as hungry as ever after becoming an undisputed world champion in a second weight class knocking out Marlon Tapales to claim all four super-bantamweight belts. The unbeaten Inoue, nicknamed "Monster", floored the Philippines fighter with a huge right hand in the 10th round in Tokyo to add the WBA and IBF titles to his own WBC and WBO belts. He became only the second man to unify all four world titles in two different weight classes, following American Terence Crawford.
Inoue needed just two fights to become the first-ever undisputed super-bantamweight world champion, 12 months after completing his rampage through the bantamweight division. The 30-year-old took his record to 26-0 with 23 KOs and said he was just getting started at the higher weight class. "One year ago, I was in a similar situation after claiming all four belts," said Inoue, who last year became the first undisputed bantamweight champion in half a century before vacating his titles to move up a division. "I wanted to show my appreciation to all the people who had supported my career. But regardless of the fact that I have these four belts, I still want to fight more great matches." he added.
Inoue knocked out American Stephen Crawford in his super-bantamweight debut in July but he had to dig deeper to see off Tapales. The 31-year-old from the Philippines went down in the fourth round but clawed his way back into the match with a dogged performance. Inoue finally ended Tapales's challenge with a ferocious right hand that his opponent never looked like getting up from.
Inoue said Tapales was a "very tough" fighter who surprised him with his strong defence. "He kept a poker face throughout and didn't show that my punches were doing him any damage, so I was quite surprised when he went down in the tenth round," he said.
Source: mb.com.ph
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