Inoue Holds Off Nasukawa In Tokyo Rematch

Takuma Inoue retained the WBC bantamweight title Saturday with a unanimous decision over Tenshin Nasukawa in their Tokyo rematch, weathering a seventh-round knockdown to repeat his November 2025 victory.

The judges scored it 114-113, 116-111, and 116-111 for Inoue, who improved to 23-2 with five knockouts. Nasukawa dropped to 8-2 as a professional boxer, losing both attempts at Inoue's strap.

Inoue Recovers From Knockdown To Control Late Rounds

Nasukawa stunned Inoue in the seventh and pressed for a stoppage, but when the finish did not materialise, Inoue seized control. Bad Left Hook reported that the champion came out on the front foot in the eighth round and dominated the mid-range, where Nasukawa struggled on the back foot. Inoue then largely took over down the stretch.

The undercard delivered in Toyota Arena. Sam Goodman claimed the interim IBF bantamweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Ryosuke Nishida, scoring 114-111, 115-110, and 116-109 on the cards. Goodman moved to 23-1 and would be elevated to full champion if Naoya Inoue vacates at 122 pounds to campaign at featherweight.

Ricardo Malajika captured the vacant WBC flyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super flyweight title via split decision over Tomoya Tsuboi, though Bad Left Hook scored the fight for Tsuboi. The judges saw it 115-113 and 116-112 for Malajika, with one card 115-113 for Tsuboi. Ryusei Matsumoto won the interim WBO minimumweight strap, beating Russell Acosta by unanimous decision on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 118-110.

Inoue has now defended his WBC title twice since winning it last year, sandwiching a dominant performance against Kazuto Ioka between the two Nasukawa fights.

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• Bad Left Hook — Takuma Inoue vs Tenshin Nasukawa 2: Live blog and results