Japanese boxer Naoya Inoue defended the absolute world champion title in the weight category up to 55.3 kilograms in Tokyo on Monday, defeating Mexican Luis Neri.
At the Tokyo Dome, which seats more than 45,000 fans, Neri knocked down Inoue, nicknamed The Monster, with a left hand in the first round, but Inoue responded with knockdowns in the second and fifth rounds before ending the fight with a TKO in the sixth after a right hand hook. .
“It was a great feeling to beat him, but the surprise in the first round gave me a boost. It gave me a lot of energy,” said the 31-year-old Inoue.
It was the first boxing event held at the Tokyo Dome since February 1990, when James Douglas knocked out heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
Inoue now has 27 straight fights in his professional boxing career, 24 of them by knockout. This was his first fight in the ring since December, when he became the absolute world champion in this weight. He is only the second boxer who has become the absolute world champion in two different weight categories since the beginning of the four-belt era in 2004. The first was American Terence Crawford.
Neri, a former World Boxing Council (WBC) and The Ring champion, was scheduled to fight in Japan for the first time since 2018, when he was stripped of his 53.5kg world title after failing to make weight. . He was then banned from fighting in Japan, but the country’s boxing commission gave him permission to fight Inoui. The 29-year-old Neri now has 35 wins in 37 fights, 27 of them by knockout.
Inoue fought in this weight category for only the third time, beating American Steven Fulton last July and Marlon Tapales from the Philippines in December. Inoue currently holds the world championship belts of the WBC, World Boxing Organization (WBO), World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF), as well as The Ring magazine. Inoue switched to this weight category after becoming the absolute world champion in the weight category up to 53.5 kilograms.
In the fights that took place before the fight between Inoue and Neri, the Japanese Yoshiki Takei defeated the Australian boxer Jason Moloney by decision of the judges, winning the title of world champion in the WBO version in the weight category up to 53.5 kilograms. The former kickboxer, who had won all eight previous boxing matches by knockout, this time could not defeat his opponent before the end of the 12th round. Moloney, who became world champion last May, has now won 29 of 32 fights, 27 by knockout.
Even before that, Inoue’s younger brother Takuma defended his WBA world title in the weight category up to 53.5 kilograms, beating Japan’s Sho Ishida by decision. Japan’s Seigo Juri Akui defended his world champion title in the WBA version in the weight category up to 50.8 kilograms, beating compatriot Taka Kuwahara by decision of the judges.
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