By Jim Dower: Undefeated Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue (15-0, 13 KOs) easily dispatched #7 WBO Yoan Boyeaux (41-5, 26 KOs) in stopping him in the 3rd round on Saturday night to successfully defend his WBO super flyweight title at the Bunka Gym in Yokohama, Japan. Inoue dropped Boyeaux with a left-right combination in the 3rd. The fight was then stopped.
Inoue, 24, knocked Boyeaux down 3 times in the fight in dropping him once in round 1, and two more times in the 3rd round. The fight was stopped by referee Raul Caiz Jr. after the third knockdown in round 3. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:40 of round 3. All three knockdowns in the fight by Inoue came from left hooks to the body.
You’ve got to give Boyeaux credit for getting up after the first knockdown of the fight in round 1. Boyeaux was nailed by a big left hook from Inoue. Boyeaux staggered to his feet, and he was on shaky legs when the referee directed him to walk towards him. A lot of referees would have stopped the contest at that point in the fight. Boyeaux looked like he was drunk when he walked towards the referee. It was one of those judgment calls on the referee’s part to allow Boyeaux to continue fighting.
The loss for Boyeaux ends his 31-fight unbeaten streak dating back to 2012. Boyeaux is not unbeaten obviously. He lost to Anthony Settoul by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision in 2012. Nowadays, Settoul is mostly knows for being a guy that with recent losses to Nonito Donaire [TKO 2] and Ryan Burnett [UD 10]. Boyeaux was able to go 5 years without losing largely because he fought poor opposition. Boyeaux wasted 5 years of his career fighting weak opposition. Finally, he got lucky with Inoue’s management picking him out from the No.7 spot for a voluntary defense. If not for that, it’s unlikely that Boyeaux would have ever been given a world title shot, as the sanctioning bodies obviously haven’t been too excited about his quality of opposition on his resume.
Inoue showed good hand speed and body punching in the fight. The crowd was really into the fight. Each time Inoue would land one of his lightning quick right hands and left hooks, his boxing fans would scream loudly. Inoue’s defense wasn’t that great, however. Boyeaux had little problems landing his power punches. The only thing that kept Boyeaux from doing better was he was so preoccupied with not getting hit. He put too much emphasis on avoiding punches.
Inoue will now be moving up in weight to the bantamweight division. Inoue was a perfect 7-0 since moving up to the super flyweight division in 2014. Inoue’s best win in the 115 lb. weight class was his 2nd round knockout victory over WBO super flyweight champion Omar Andres Narvaez. That was the only high quality opponent that Inoue fought during his 3 years at super flyweight.
In leaving the 115lb division, Inoue departs without having fought the cream of the weight class in Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Juan Francisco Estrada, Carlos Cuadras, Jerwin Ancajas, Khalid Yafai and Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. Hopefully, Inoue will fight the best at 118. It’s impossible to know how good Inoue is because he never fought any of the talented fighters at 115. For Inoue to get full recognition from the boxing fans around the globe, he needs to fight the best and not just fringe contenders like we saw tonight with him facing Boyeaux. Rungvisai said he wanted the fight with Inoue. It’s unclear why the fight wasn’t made.
Ken Shiro vs. Gilberto Pedroza – Results
Undefeated WBC junior flyweight champion Ken Shiro (12-0, 6 KOs) defeated #11 WBC Gilberto Pedroza (18-4-2, 8 KOs) by a 4h round knockout in the co-feature bout on the Inoue vs. Boyeaux card. The fight was stopped at 1:12 of the 4th.