Overview
- Inoue, who fought Saturday in Tokyo, won a unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113 to keep all four major 122-pound belts and remain unbeaten at 33-0.
- The fight unfolded with cautious early rounds, a mid-bout surge from Nakatani, and a late rally from Inoue that secured the championship rounds.
- An accidental head clash in round 10 opened a bad cut over Nakatani’s left eye, led to a ringside doctor check, and hampered his push down the stretch.
- A crowd of about 55,000 packed the Tokyo Dome for what outlets billed as one of Japan’s biggest boxing events, with the card broadcast live worldwide on DAZN.
- On the undercard, Takuma Inoue defeated Kazuto Ioka by wide unanimous decision to retain the WBC bantamweight title, denying Ioka a belt in a fifth weight class.