Naoya Inoue becomes first undisputed champion in 50 years
Naoya Inoue from Japan became the first undisputed world bantamweight champion in fifty years when he stopped England’s Paul Butler in the eleventh round in Tokyo., Japan on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Inoue 24-0; 21 who held the WBA/WBC/IBF bantamweight belts, came out fast in the opening round to score with some big shots to the head and body and continued to remain on the attack to punish the WBO champion, Butler 34-3 in the second round.
This was the pattern of the fight with Inoue moving forward and landing with combinations throughout as Butler went into a defensive mode.
Inoue never lost a round and sent Butler down at one minute nine seconds into the eleventh round.
He now joins the exclusive club of undisputed world champions and is only the ninth fighter to hold the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF belts at the same time.
Inoue also became the first Japanese boxer to top Ring Magazine's pound-for-pound rankings as the best fighter across all weight divisions earlier this year.
Takama Inoue the younger brother of Inoue fought on the same card and stopped Filipino Jade Bornea of the Philippines in the eighth round.
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