Live from Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan: Naoya Inoue fights Marlon Tapales, round by round

Round 1: Inoue wins round. Slow pace, even for a feeling out round.

Round 2: Inoue wins round. I have no idea what Tapales is playing at. He looks tense. Who wouldn’t be? Both men were COMPLETELY sideways to reduce the silhouette at times. Great technique–but also tension and action.  

Round 3: Inoue wins round. Jameel Herring need not apologize. He’s doing great commentating and I understand his Tokyo fatigue. Get some coffee dude, next time you’re 14 hours from home, but nice job. So refreshing this two-man, no-chatter team! Inoue’s been criticized for pulling straight back in the past; he’s not doing that tonight.

Round 4: Great round. Inoue floors Tapales. Both landed big body shots. Tapales has waited maybe a couple of rounds too long to start exerting himself.  Can he survive the next round?

Round 5: Even round or Inoue wins it – NARROWLY lean Inoue. Inoue getting hit WAY too much by Tapales uppercut. Tapales is doing far better than Fulton. No contest. Tapales seems to be, simply, a better fighter than Fulton.

Round 6: Inoue wins round. Tapales was winning the round but Inoue found his favorite range. Tapales left cheek – that’s not a birthmark, that’s Inoue’s punches. How Tapales is taking this, I don’t know.

Round 7: Tapales round or even. NARROWLY lean Tapales. Inoue’s upper body looks heavier than ever before, bulky. His feet seem slower than ever before. Worrying–though he’s far ahead.

Round 8: Tapales or even. I’ll give it to Tapales even more narrowly than round 7. Perhaps an even round. Inoue reduced to looking for one shot. Never seen this before. Brilliant game plan from Team Tapales.

Round 9: Inoue wins round. Tapales faded somewhat. Tremendously tense and entertaining bout.

Round 10: Inoue KO’s Tapales. Weird, weird, fight - but the Monster gets it done.

Was this a strange night, or a slight off night for Inoue? Or was Tapales (37-4, 19 KOs)  in a ‘zone’ where, until his brain stopped working (it did) he was just going to fight brilliantly and take shots until he couldn’t?

The concern here is Inoue’s much bigger chest and shoulders – has he outgrown the weight class?

As Mayweather points out, Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is doing great deeds on the wrong side of 29. Was this just another great fight or was this the second Razor Ruddock-Tyson fight, where Mike won clearly, but you said, “Damn; this dude has slowed down.”

I don’t know. I don’t have a crystal ball. I do know that Inoue kayoed Tapales with a punch that was partially blocked. Monstrous power.

Tapales who got full props from Inoue, fought brilliantly at times, had a great plan, and an unbelievable ability to absorb basically a man hitting you with a sledgehammer. But he took too many shots and waited two rounds too many to really get in gear.

Inoue post-fight said his corner cheered him up in a very difficult fight. I have great respect for this kind of honesty.

Happy Holidays, what a treat. Boxing – no sport even close!