Naoya Inoue knocked out Ye Joon Kim early to successfully retain his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles in Tokyo on Friday. The pound-for-pound phenom nicknamed ‘The Monster’ moved to 29-0 and maintained his unblemished professional record with a 26th career stoppage that came after a short-lived one-sided bout at the Ariake Arena, which was ended by a massive right hand late in the fourth round that sent Kim down and led to him being counted out by the referee.
It was a brutal lesson for the overmatched South Korean challenger, who took the fight on just two weeks’ notice as a late replacement for Australian Sam Goodman, who has twice pulled out of fights with Inoue due to a cut suffered in sparring last month. The latest win sets up Inoue for a blockbuster 2025 that will include a spring fight in the United States and likely then a huge contest in Saudi Arabia, possibly against fellow unbeaten Japanese superstar and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani.
