Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue on Monday night said an early scare got him “fired up” after he stopped Mexico’s Luis Nery in the sixth round to defend his titles at the Tokyo Dome.
About 43,000 fans packed into the famous venue for the first boxing match there since 42-1 underdog James “Buster” Douglas knocked out unbeaten heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in February 1990 in one of the sport’s biggest upsets.
Another seismic shock looked like it could be on the cards when Nery floored the unbeaten “Monster” Inoue in the first round with a huge left hand, with all four championship belts up for grabs.
Photo: AFP
Inoue got up and knocked his opponent down in the following round, before sending him to the canvas again in the fifth and finishing him off with a right hook in the sixth.
“It was a great feeling to knock him down, but how about that surprise in the first round?” the 31-year-old Inoue said. “As a boxer, when that happens to you it fires you up. It gave me a lot of energy.”
Inoue chuckled incredulously to himself as he sat down at the end of a stunning first round.
However, the Japanese fighter gave a yell as he left his stool for the start of the second and was soon on level terms after dropping Nery with a well-timed left.
“From the moment I went down, I was able to recover calmly,” Inoue said. “I think it was precisely because I went down that I was able to fight the way I did.”
Inoue gave yet another demonstration of his ferocious punching power as he picked Nery apart in the following rounds.
He downed his opponent with a juddering left hook in the fifth, then landed the finishing blow in the sixth to win by technical knockout.
Inoue took his record to 27-0 with 24 wins by KO, and said that his team would enter negotiations to fight Australian Sam Goodman in his next title defense, likely to be in September.
“Fighting at Tokyo Dome gave me a lot of power, but there was also pressure,” he said.
It was Inoue’s first title defense since becoming the undisputed super-bantamweight world champion in December last year.
He is just the second man to become undisputed world champion at two different weights since the four-belt era began in 2004. American Terence Crawford was the first.
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
TWO-NIL LOSS: Taiwan’s best chance to score came at the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but Venezuela’s Liarvis Breto got out of the jam Taiwan yesterday suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome. Taiwan had seven hits, one more than Venezuela’s six, but catcher Carlos Perez’s two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured victory for Venezuela. Taiwan’s best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuela reliever Liarvis Breto struck out Chen Chen-wei before reliever Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin
As sporting celebrations go, it does not quite have the charm of Roger Milla’s hip-wiggling shimmy with a corner flag at the 1990 World Cup or the imperious swagger of Usain Bolt’s iconic lightning pose. However, a dance move inspired by US president-elect Donald Trump’s stilted on-stage boogieing has rapidly become the celebration of choice across the US sporting world. From the blood-soaked UFC to the hard-hitting NFL and the reliably decorous world of the LPGA Tour, athletes across North America have succumbed to the viral Trump dance craze in the past week. On Monday, US soccer star Christian Pulisic became the latest