Naoya Inoue successfully defended his undisputed super bantamweight title against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in a largely dominant points win in Japan on Sunday.
Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) survived a scare in his most recent outing against Ramon Cardenas in May, as he was dropped in the second round before rallying to stop the American a round later. Akhmadaliev (14-2, 11 KOs) had previously reigned as unified world champion at the weight, and was an eighth-round stoppage winner against Luis Castillo in May in his last assignment.
Inoue’s speed was quickly on show, and he was taking his time, spearing shots into his opponent and controlling the action through the first three rounds.
Even when Akhmadaliev would land, the ‘Monster’ would pay him back immediately, although the Uzbek landed with some decent blows of his own in the fifth.
Inoue was enjoying the battle though, and the pair frantically exchanged in round six, with the home favourite rapidly working away at the body of the challenger, and despite the 30-year-old’s best efforts, he couldn’t sustain pressure to make enough of a dent on the Japanese champion.
Inoue was starting to crank up the pressure, and the eighth saw him up the ante, with Akhmadaliev visibly feeling Inoue’s punches more and more, and he was also showing facial damage.
Inoue was now toying with Akhmadaliev, and the fight pattern continued, right until the final ten seconds where ‘MJ’ finally found a right hand that buzzed Inoue, but it was far too late in the day.
Inoue won the contest by two scores of 118-110, and a third at 117-111, and moved closer to a potential blockbuster meeting with countryman Junto Nakatani.
Medina blows away Takei
Yoshiki Takei lost his WBO bantamweight title in his third defence in the chief support, as he found Christian Medina too hot to handle, with the Mexican taking a ruthless fourth-round stoppage win.
A massive right hand from Medina (26-4, 19 KOs) had Takei (11-1, 9 KOs) down hard towards the end of the first round, and the Mexican bossed the fight, eventually closing the show with a stunning sequence of uppercuts that gave the referee no choice but to stop the contest.
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Matsumoto beats Takada by TD
The third 12-rounder came at minimumweight, and it ended in controversy, as a horror clash of heads ended the contest between Ryusei Matsumoto and Yuni Takada.
Takada (16-9-3, 6 KOs) came off worse, as he lay stricken on the canvas, and he was taken away from the ring on a stretcher.
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The bout was for the vacant WBA title, and the contest went to a technical decision with the butt being accidental.
Matsumoto (7-0, 4 KOs) was declared the new champion by two scores of 50-45, and a third tally of 50-46.
Remaining Undercard
In the sole 10-rounder, Taiga Imanaga claimed the vacant Japanese lightweight title by outpointing Yudai Murakami (6-3-1).
Two scores of 100-90, and a third at 99-91 saw Imanaga (9-0, 5 KOs) a dominant winner.
In eight round contests, Ei Go (5-1, 2 KOs) was upset against Shunpei Ohata at super featherweight, with Ohata (7-1, 4 KOs) taking a fourth-round stoppage win, and at super bantamweight, Toshiki Shimomachi (22-1-3, 12 KOs) won all available sessions against Han Sol Lee (9-8, 4 KOs).
The only four-rounder came at bantamweight where Taisei Ayano (3-2, 2 KOs) took a second-round stoppage win against Yusuke Nawa (2-6, 1 KO).
