Boxing Challenge: Inoue marches through MJ

   We recapped the Las Vegas side of the boxing weekend earlier, so now it's onto the remainder of the weekend, which saw the world junior featherweight title retained and two new champions taking their place at the table.

Nagoya, Japan, was the site as Naoya "The Monster" Inoue dominated Murodjon "MJ" Akhmadaliev and won an easy unanimous decision to retain his undisputed junior featherweight titles.

Inoue never hurt or knocked down Akhmadaliev, which speaks volumes about the challenger's quality. However, the Monster was far too fast and skilled for Akhmadaliev, and aside from two or three rounds, Inoue dominated the fight.

Akhmadaliev did wobble Inoue in the waning seconds of the fight, but had little time to follow up.

Inoue earned the judges' nod by scores of 118-110 twice and 117-111, which was my score.

Inoue will make his next defense against another mandatory challenger (Akhmadaliev was the WBA's mandatory challenger) before the end of the year against the WBC's Alan David Picasso in Saudi Arabia.

Should Inoue retain those titles, he would face Junto Nakatani next year in the Tokyo Dome in the biggest All-Japanese fight in history.

The co-feature saw an upset as Christian Medina knocked out Yoshiki Takei in the fourth round to win the WBO bantamweight title.

Medina floored Takei in the first round and battered him throughout before finishing him in the fourth.

Paddy Donovan met Lewis Crocker for the second time, and for the second time, Crocker emerged with a controversial victory. 

Donovan was dominating the first fight but was disqualified for hitting Crocker after the bell in an IBF welterweight eliminator.

Since then, Jaron "Boots" Ennis vacated the title, and the IBF mandated rematch was for the vacant title.

This time, Crocker scored knockdowns in the third and fifth rounds, but I thought Donovan was ahead (114-112 on my card) at the end of the fight.

The official decision differed, with Crocker winning on two cards (114-112 and 114-113), with Donovan winning on one card (115-111).

I'd be fine with a third fight eventually between these two.

Roman Gonzalez continued his comeback with a unanimous decision win over Hector Robles in Nicaragua.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 132 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 125 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 52 Pts (1) 

Boxing Challenge: Nunez wins title

   Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez won the vacant IBF junior lightweight title in Yokohama, Japan, by doing something he had never done- winning a decision.

Nunez had won his previous bouts by knockout, but the rugged Masanori Rikiishi lasted the distance with Nunez and battled him to the end.

Nunez never seemed to seriously hurt Rikiishi, but his consistent attack and hard punches allowed him to dictate the fight despite the occasional counter from the home fighter.

Nunez won by scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113, my score matching the middle score.

The exciting Nunez won the title vacated by Anthony Cacace, who chose a larger purse to fight Josh Warrington rather than Nunez.

A Nunez-Cacace fight would be entertaining, but promoter Eddie Hearn mentioned the possibility of former WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford as a likely next opponent for Nunez, which would also be intriguing.

Yoshiki Takei dropped Yuttapong Tongdee three times in the first round and was pounding Tongdee along the ropes when the referee ended the fight with barely two minutes elapsed.

Takei retained his WBO bantamweight title with the destructive triumph.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 81 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 78 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 32 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue forces surrender in seven

      The Monster claimed another meal in Tokyo Tuesday as undisputed world junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue defended his four championships successfully as former IBF champion TJ Doheny was forced to surrender in round seven.

Doheny fought well as anyone could have hoped as he feinted against Inoue effectively, and landed his straight left, and I even thought he won the third round but Inoue started to whack away at the body of the Australian in the fifth and sixth and near the end of round six, Doheny was visibly shaken by a body punch.

Doheny was driven to the ropes with another body punch in the seventh that turned him around and he immediately indicated he was fine with the stoppage due to either an injury to his back or foot, perhaps even both.

This was about what was expected in the optional title defense and promoter Bob Arum stated the plans for Inoue to have one more fight before the end of 2024.

Inoue does have two mandatories coming up, so it's likely to be either the WBA's top contender in former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev or the IBF's leading challenger in Australia's Sam Goodman.

The co-feature was an excellent fight as Yoshiki Takei scraped by former WBC flyweight Daigo Higa with a razor-close unanimous decision to retain his WBO bantamweight title.

Takei controlled the early rounds with Higa dominating late, including an eleventh-round flash knockdown of the champion but with the fight on the line Takei won the final round and with it the fight.

Scores for the champion of 115-112 and 114-113 times two with my score of 114-113 for Higa.

The fight was so close and well-fought, a rematch would make sense.

In an untelevised fight at junior lightweight, Andy Hiroka stopped veteran Ismael Barroso in the ninth round of a WBA eliminator.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 123 Pts (6)

TRS: 112 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 65 Pts (5)