Naoya Inoue’s brother Takuma drops boxing legend Kazuto Ioka twice in dominant win

Takuma Inoue proved too fast, too sharp and too fresh for an ageing Kazuto Ioka on Saturday at the Tokyo Dome.

Inoue dropped Ioka twice en route to a lopsided unanimous decision win on the undercard of his older brother, Naoya’s, Japanese super fight with Junto Nakatani.

AFP

The three judges sided with the younger Inoue brother by margins of 119-107, 120-106 and 118-108.

In victory, Inoue retains his WBC bantamweight title and denies future Hall of Famer Ioka from becoming a five-weight world champion.

A visibly emotional Inoue said post-fight: “It was a very intense battle from the first round to the third round, but it was very fun.

“Thank you so much, Ioka, for fighting me.

“He is a legend, and I have been looking up to him throughout my career.

“Because of him, this fight was great, and because of him I am stronger than ever.”

Inoue then called for a unification clash with one of the other champions at 118lbs (Seiya Tsutsumi, Jose Salas Reyes, and Christian Medina).

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