He isn’t exactly the three division champ that he is being hyped up to be, but Japanese superstar Naoya “Monster” Inoue delivered one hell of a statement at home in his bantamweight debut by ridding himself of Jamie McDonnell is the very first round. Ken Shiro also won his rematch with Ganigan Lopez early.
Jamie McDonnnell (29-3-1, 13 KOs) had some serious size advantages in this fight in terms of height and reach. He tried to use them on the outside with a jab heavy gameplan, but Monster Inoue (16-0, 14 KOs) was aggressive from the get go and he never stood a chance. About a minute in the Japanese legend in the making caught McDonnell with a left hook on the top of his head that had him on rollerskates. He tried to retreat, but he was put down with another one right after. McDonnell rose, but he quickly found himself trapped on the ropes where he was dropped and finished 1:52 into the fight.
There can be no question in my view that Naoya Inoue is a top ten pound for pound fighter. The 25 year old just turns in spectacular performance after spectacular performance no matter the competition level. The speculation is that he will enter the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament next and I surely hope that is accurate. The rumored field will be loaded full of great matchups for him for real titles. The one he won today, unfortunately, is not real. Ryan Burnett is the WBA’s bantamweight titleholder, not Inoue, though it hardly matters at this point.
Ken Shiro (13-0, 7 KOs) also picked up an early stoppage in impressive fashion in the co-main event. Last May Shiro narrowly won his WBC light flyweight title with a majority decision over top Mexican contender Ganigan Lopez (34-8, 19 KOs), but that was far from the case in the rematch here. After a cautious opening frame, Shiro abruptly ended the affair with a big straight right to the body. Lopez could not continue. Following Ryiochi Taguchi’s upset loss to Hekkie Budler last weekend, I had elevated Shiro to be the top ranked light flyweight in the sport just a few days ago. He delivered on that ranking here.
