Naoya inoue became just the second man to unify all four boxing world titles in two weight divisions on Tuesday, beating the Philippines’ Marlon Tapales in a super bantamweight unification bout via a 10th-round knockout.
Nicknamed “The Monster,” Inoue unified all four bantamweight belts last December before moving up in weight to win the WBC and WBO titles on his super bantamweight debut in July with an eighth-round technical knockout of American Stephen Fulton.
In July, American Terence Crawford became the first boxer to unify all four championships in two weight classes when he conquered the welterweight division, adding to his undisputed four-belt super lightweight reign from 2017.
The 30-year-old Inoue has won world titles at four different weights, having previously moved through the light flyweight and super flyweight divisions.
He became the first Japanese to top the pound-for-pound rankings published by the prestigious Ring magazine in June 2022 and now has a 26-0 record, with 23 knockouts.
Naoya Inoue takes down Marlon Tapales (left) in the 4th round at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
| Kyodo