By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

In a bout which is certainly a candidate for Fight of the Year, three-weight divisional and IBF champion Naoya Inoue (19-0 / 16 by KO) defeated four-weight divisional and WBA super champion Nonito Donaire (40-6 / 26 by KO) in a twelve round unanimous decision on Thursday, November 7, 2019.

The fight was action packed from start to finish with both fighters giving hard fought performances with a crowd of over 20,000 witnessing at the Super Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The 26 year old Japanese fighter Inoue overcame major adversity with a cut over his right eye from a left hook in the second round and was rocked solid with a right hand in round nine by the 36 year old Filipino Donaire.

It was clear that Inoue was faster and the harder hitter, but the veteran Donaire was savvy, using an educated right hand, and was not intimidated making it a very competitive fight.

By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

In a much anticipated light heavyweight unification fight between two undefeated champions, Artur Beterbiev (15-0 / 15 by KO) scored a tenth round KO over Oleksandr Gvozdyk (17-1 / 14 by KO) at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

Gvozdyk opened up round one impressively by using nonstop lateral movement and excellent combinations.

At the end of round one there was a call by referee Gary Rosato which ruled that Gvozdyk had gone down from a punch into the ropes. After a review on the TV replay it was ruled a push by Beterbiev and, thus, was not a knockdown.

In round two Beterbiev applied more forward pressure and stunned Gvozdyk a few times, gaining slight momentum.

In the third, Gvozdyk had a good round by landing nice crisp combinations, but Beterbiev took the shots and stayed content to just come forward with a few hard shots of his own.

Although I had Gvozdyk winning round four, Beterbiev hurt Gvozdyk with a solid right hand at the end of the round; but the bell rang before he could follow up with more damage.