By: Sean Crose

The first fight was a classic. The rematch was essentially a blowout. Still, Naoya Inoue made it clear today in Japan that he and he alone is the big name in the bantamweight division. In a rematch of his memorable 2019 bout with Nonito Donaire, Japan’s Inoue thrilled his countrymen today as he stopped Nonito Donaire in the second round of a scheduled 12 round title unifier. The 29 year old Inoue is now the WBC and IBF world bantamweight champion. He’s now also the WBA’s super world bantamweight champion. It’s hard to see where the legendary 39 year old Donaire goes from here. Although he’s risen from the career ashes like a Phoenix before, Donaire was completely dominated by Inoue on Tuesday. The fighter known as “The Monster” essentially made easy work of his legendary this time around.

Donaire looked effective enough in the first, landing a short jab to Inoue’s face in impressive fashion. Before the bell sounded to end the opening chapter, however, Inoue’s power kicked in, as he sent Donaire to the mat. Donaire got up and survived the round, but the fight was already over. For Inoue landed incredibly hard in second, wobbling Donaire on several occasions. After dropping the fighter known as the “Filipino Flash” for the second time, Inoue was declared the winner of the bout, as the referee wisely put an end to things. This was Inoue’s 23d win in a row against no losses. Twenty of those wins have come by way of knockout.

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