Inoue stops Tapales, becomes undisputed champion in two-weight divisions

Japan’s Naoya Inoue became only the second male boxer to win undisputed title in two weight divisions.

Inoue on December 26 in Tokyo stopped Marlon Tapales (37-4) from Philippines, to unify all four main titles (WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO) in super-bantamweight division.

Inoue on December last year unified all titles also in bantamweight division.

The “Monster” is unbeaten in 26 professional boxing fights and 23 of them won by KO.

“I think [junior featherweight] is my weight class for now so, in 2024, I would like to show myself at [junior featherweight] in even stronger form,” Inoue said after the fight. “I am so happy that I got the knockout in such a decisive manner.”

Inoue came in fight against Tapales as WBC and WBO champion. Tapales came as IBF and WBA champion.

“[Tapales] never showed me fatigue or damage from his face, so I was quite surprised when he went down in the 10th round,” said Inoue. “It was one of the most intense fights I’ve had before, probably, but my corner cheered me up and kept me focused throughout the bout.”

The only other man to achieve the feat of being undisputed in two-weight divisions, is American Terence Crawford, the current welterweight undisputed champion, who previously unified the four major belts in the super-lightweight class.

In women’s boxing, Claressa Shields (middleweight and light-middleweight) and Katie Taylor (lightweight and light-welterweight) have achieved the same feat.