NAOYA Inoue extended his destructive surge at super bantamweight with an emphatic fourth-round stoppage victory over late-notice opponent Ye Joon Kim.
The 31-year-old was supposed to face IBF and WBO mandatory challenger Sam Goodman, but the Australian was ultimately forced to pull out with an injury.
Instead, Kim, 21-3-2 (13 KOs), stepped in on under two weeks’ notice, taking on Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs), at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
But in the end, Inoue proved to be too much for his brave opponent, retaining his WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA and Ring Magazine titles at 122 lbs.
It was a surprisingly slow start to the contest from both fighters, with Inoue looking to download information while Kim maintained a tight defence out of the southpaw stance.
In the second round, however, ‘The Monster’ caught his opponent with a series of thudding right hands, none of which having much of an effect on Kim who, in fairness, used his feet to evade several attacks.
‘The Troublemaker’ then landed some combinations of his own in the third round before Inoue resumed his control, stabbing the South Korean’s head and body with his deadly right hand.
Sure enough, Inoue continued to pile on the pressure in the fourth round, sensing that his opponent was there for the taking.
A pulverizing right hand then sealed the deal for the Japanese sensation, leaving Kim in no position to continue after crashing down to the canvas.
“I am so happy to see loads of people in the arena,” Inoue said in his post-fight interview. “I feel lots of love from everyone.
“Kim, thank you so much for fighting me tonight. I didn’t have enough time to study my opponent, so I just took some time to see what was coming from him.
“I am pretty sure that 2025 will be a big year for me.”
Shortly after, Top Rank boss Bob Arum, his promoter, insisted that Inoue will headline a show in Las Vegas this spring.
