Inoue Barely Breaks a Sweat in His Return Home
It was a homecoming for Naoya “Monster” Inoue (22-0, 19 KOs) as he defended his unified IBF/WBA world bantamweight titles at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan . He effectively outclassed Aran Dipaen (12-3, 11 KOs) of Thailand, who was ranked #5 by the IBF.
The last time Inoue fought in Japan was on November 7, 2019, in his epic battle against then WBA ‘super’ champ Nonito Donaire in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series Bantamweight tournament. In 2019’s Fight of the Year, Inoue pulled out a hard-fought win to unify the titles.
He then signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank and made a name for himself in America with dominant wins over Jason Moloney and Michael Dasmarinas. Inoue ventured back to domestic shores to face a challenger that, going in, was considered a massive underdog.
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CHOPPING HIM DOWN
Fighting in front of a sellout crowd, Inoue stalked Dipaen behind the jab. Facing someone trying to avoid his punching power, the champ focused much of his efforts on breaking the Thai fighter down to the body.
The body punching was the consistent theme in this one. Dipaen tried his best to fight back but couldn’t keep Inoue off. He showed the damage from the attack as he started bleeding from the nose and spent most of the time fighting on the back foot.
FEELING THE PAIN
In the middle rounds, Dipaen started to slow down. An Inoue right hook rocked him in the seventh. With forty-five seconds to go in round eight, a left hook put him on the canvas. The challenger was able to get back up. However, a follow-up left hook from Inoue hurt him again. It was then that referee Michiaki Someya stepped in and called a halt to the contest.
After the fight, the victor told the local media he was disappointed in his performance but was glad to be able to make a triumphant return.
“I’m sorry it became a fight that fell way below the expected level. Dipaen was really tough. It was good I could enjoy fighting eight rounds in a Japanese ring. Hopefully, we can provide cards that fans want to watch next year.”
Moving into 2022, Inoue has talked of moving up to junior featherweight. But before that, he would like to become the undisputed champion at 118.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
