TOKYO (AP) — Goading boxing superstar Naoya Inoue proved to be the wrong move.
The unbeaten Japanese fighter was invited to take a shot by overmatched South Korean opponent Ye Joon Kim, and Inoue responded with a devastating right hand in a fourth-round knockout in Tokyo on Friday to remain the undisputed super bantamweight champion.
Kim fell to his knees and couldn’t beat the count.
Kim was only fighting Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) as a replacement for Sam Goodman, an Australian who pulled out because of a recurrence of an eye injury that forced the postponement of the original bout with Inoue scheduled for Dec. 24.
It was Inoue’s third successful defense of his super bantamweight titles.
His next fight is set to be in Las Vegas, where he beat Michael Dasmarinas in June 2021. That was his last fight outside Japan.
Inoue is a four-division world champion in light-flyweight, super-flyweight, bantamweight and now super-bantamweight.
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