The world of boxing turns to The Land of the Rising Sun, as three big boxing cards featured eight world title fights in all. On Tuesday, Japanese boxing protege Naoya Inoue blasted veteran star Omar Andres Narvaez, knocking him out in two rounds to capture a world title in a second weight class at just 21 years of age. Not every book carried this line, but Inoue walked in a 3-to-1 favorite at the books, so his win wasn’t exactly a surprise, but Inoue makes a case for himself as fighter of the year with his last day of the year win over a long-time world No. 1.
Also on the Tuesday card, Jorge Linares grabbed the vacant WBC World Lightweight title with a fourth round stoppage over Javier Prieto. Pedro Guevara knocked out Akira Yaegashi to capture the also vacant WBC World Light Flyweight title.
On Wednesday, Cuba’s Guillermo Rigondeaux retained his WBO and WBA World Super Bantamweight titles after a scare at the hands of massive underdog Hisashi Amagasa. Rigondeaux had to get up off the canvas in the seventh to put away his much taller, lankier opponent. Also on the card, Japan’s Katsunari Takayama defeated Go Adaira to capture the vacant IBF and WBO World Minimumweight titles.
On a different boxing card, WBA World Super Featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama stopped Israel Hector Perez when the Argentinian fighter could not answer the bell for the tenth round. For Uchiyama, it is the ninth consecutive defense of his world title, and there is talk of him moving up in weight class to Lightweight. With Linares winning a belt in the Lightweight class the night before, it would seem that Uchiyama’s next challenge is in front of him.
Also on that card, Kohei Kono and Norberto Jimenez fought to a split draw, so Kono retained the WBA World Super Flyweight belt. Ryoichi Taguchi won a unanimous decision over Alberto Rossel to keep his WBA World Light Flyweight title.
Here is a Spanish language broadcast of Inoue flooring Narvaez four times before getting the stoppage:
