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Naoya Inoue was a real “Monster” against Michael Dasmariñas on Saturday, June 19 (Sunday, June 20, Philippine time).
Showcasing his vaunted punching power, the Japanese sensation sent the Filipino down three times with body shots and won by third-round knockout to retain the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation bantamweight titles at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
After sizing up his challenger in the first round, Inoue trained his left-hand bombs to the body and brought Dasmariñas to his knees with a left counter in the second.
It was a matter of time after that as Inoue again floored Dasmariñas with a combination to the body early in the third.
Though reeling in pain, Dasmariñas struggled to beat the count only to be met by another flurry of lethal body shots seconds later.
In stretching his winning run to 21, Inoue lived up to his promise to make Dasmariñas his 18th knockout victim and impress the American and global audience.
“He was able to sneak in a body shot and I was unable to breathe,” Dasmariñas told Fighthype.com. “Inoue has speed, power, skill. He’s the total package.”
Dasmariñas, simply not in Inoue’s league, dropped to 30-3-1 with 20 knockouts.
In earlier interviews, Inoue said he will be focusing on unification with either Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire or Johnriel “Quadro Alas” Casimero, who were both at ringside and will figure in another unification on August 14.
Casimero was supposed to dangle the World Boxing Organization crown against Guillermo Rigondeaux but the two-time Olympic gold medalist was persuaded by Premier Boxing Champions to step aside in favor of Donaire, who wrested the World Boxing Council title from Nordine Oubaali on May 29.
Donaire wants to avenge his close unanimous decision loss to Inoue in 2019 while Casimero has been calling out and taunting the Japanese since their 2019 bout got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inoue, on the other hand, wants to become a unified champion and best pound-for-pound fighter. Apart from being the “Monster,” of course. – Rappler.com
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