Naoya Inoue delivers vicious knockout of Ye Joon Kim to retain undisputed world titles
Naoya Inoue delivers vicious knockout of Ye Joon Kim to retain undisputed world titles
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Naoya Inoue retained his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles with a trademark vicious early knockout of Ye Joon Kim in Tokyo. ‘The Monster’ once again lived up to his billing at the Ariake Arena on Friday, dominating a short-lived contest against his late replacement opponent, who had stepped in to take on one of boxing’s most daunting challenges at just two weeks’ notice after Australian challenger Sam Goodman again pulled out as the result of a recurring injury that also forced his withdrawal from a bout with Inoue on Christmas Eve.
As expected the overmatched Kim proved no match for the champion as he never got remotely close to threatening what would have gone down as one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history in the same realm as Buster Douglas’ famous shock of then heavyweight king Mike Tyson in Tokyo back in 1990.
After getting the measure of his new opponent early on, Inoue quickly increased the tempo after a quiet opening round and found the mark with a number of wincing right hands to the body to quickly pile pressure on Kim, who had success with a couple of bright counters but quickly felt the overwhelming power of one of boxing’s current pound-for-pound greats and most devastating punchers.
It was one-way traffic as Inoue swiftly went up through the gears, securing a typically ferocious knockout late in the fourth round as a left hand set up a huge straight right that landed flush on Kim’s face, sending him spiralling back towards the ropes and down as he was counted out by referee Mark Nelson.
