Inoue by KNOCKOUT over Tapales – Round 10

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Naoya Inoue, the undisputed junior featherweight which he won over Stephen Fulton, took on decided on Philippines fighter Marlon Tapales and with the intention of grabbing his junior featherweights titles.  Tapales was game but unfortunately he was against possibly the best pound for pound boxer in the world and one of the great boxing talents of a generation.  Inoue dominated the fight from the beginning.  Tapales was tough and during the fourth and fifth round, Inoue landed fifty-six punches in those two rounds and even sent Tapales down once but yet Tapales continued to fight until he was stopped for good in the tenth round. Going into the ninth round, I had the fight 90-81, a shutout.

Tapales was the underdog, and it was obvious since Inoue landed three times as many punches as his opponent why Tapales was the underdog.  In the tenth round, a right hand ended it all.  Inoue is a rare talent that combines boxing skills and power  He can out jab his opponent and his power often proves too much.  In the fourth round, Inoue turned up the heat as he sent Tapales to the canvas, but Tapales’ warrior instinct came through as he continued to take Inoue best before the Inoue right ended the fight.

Inoue also proved good defensively as Tapales only landed 17 percent of his punches and only 20 percent of his power shots.  Inoue landed more jabs, more power shots and connected on 36 percent of his overall punches versus his opponent plus landed 43 percent of his power shots.  This is what great fighters do in their prime, they dominate.

One thought on “Inoue by KNOCKOUT over Tapales – Round 10

  1. Another Rock solid win for Inoue. Rather than move up again I would prefer him to let Bam or Estrada move up to fight him

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