By Rishad Marquardt: WBO world jr. bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue blasted his way through French challenger Yoan Boyeaux (41-5, 26 KOs) by way of TKO in round three to go 15-0, 13 KOs on Saturday night at the Bunka Gym in Yokohama, Japan.
In his seventh title defence of his WBO crown, Naoya looked as explosive as ever as his abnormal strength and damaging power proved far too much his competitor. Inoue dropped Boyeaux at the end of the first round with a lunging left hook. He had to chase his opponent around the ring for the rest of the next round but he didn’t have to wait long until Boyeaux again fell to the canvas after a sniping body shot in round three. After the initial shot connected, the Frenchman grimaced and, at first, tried to stay on his feet. But the pain was all too evident and all too familiar for the dominant Inoue as he went down to take the count. The crowd gasped in shock after he managed to get up from a second knockdown in the third round, but ‘Monster’ Inoue then consistently went for the body, dropped him once more before the referee intervened, ruling the fight a round three TKO victory for the Japanese fighter.
Before the fight, Inoue announced that this would be his last fight in the division and that he would next be moving up to challenge the top dogs of the bantamweight division. When I asked him about the possibility of a match up against Ryan Burnett in the UK, he responded by saying ‘I’ll fight anyone in the division’.