Japanese 'Monster' Naoya Inoue Drops Marlon Tapale: Becomes 2-Time Undisputed Champion

The Japanese ‘Monster’ Naoya Inoue defeated Marlon Tapales in Tokyo on Tuesday and thus became the Undisputed Champion for the second time.

Naoya Inoue defeats Marlon Tapale

Inoue scored the victory in the 10th round and unified his WBC and WBO super-bantamweight belts with Tapales’s WBA and IBF titles in the process. Inoue has scripted history by becoming the second man ever to become undisputed in two divisions, after Terence Crawford achieved that massive milestone in July.

Naoya Inoue almost dropped Tapales with a counter jab in round two. However, the referee decided to carry on in favor of the Filipino. However, Inoue would score official knockdowns in rounds four and 10, which put an end to the fight.

In round four, a left hook from Inoue rocked Tapales, who was then put down by a series of follow-up shots. However, he continued to stay up and turned it into a fierce battle, even landing a number of clean shots to the head and body of Inoue.

Tapales stumbled backward and fell to his knees in round 10 when trying to block a heavy right cross. The powerful shot not only hurt but took down the WBA and IBF champ who crawled forward. He couldn’t make it in time to beat the referee’s count and thus dropping the titles to Inoue.

In July, Naoya Inoue claimed the WBC and WBO titles from Stephen Fulton with a devastating finish. In just over a year, the “Monster” has become the undisputed champion in both the super-bantamweight and bantamweight divisions.

🇯🇵 THE MONSTER 井上尚弥 KO10 Marlon Tapales 🇵🇭
As I always say after these incredible performances and knockouts, Naoya Inoue will retire an ALL-TIME GREAT UNDEFEATED FIGHTER 👹 pic.twitter.com/Ua81rfpzYf
— No Nonsense Boxing (@NNBoxing) December 26, 2023