The Takuma Inoue knockdown on his brother Naoya Inoue’s undercard was sublime. A baseball bat or an iron bar almost out of his back pocket.
Real mayhem in Japan today fights everywhere and good little scraps most of them.
The Takuma Inoue knockdown was a big uppercut that floored his opponent here is some of the reaction today in boxing results to it:
He has a good future we think, people will get to know him more in the US and West now today as well with the win on his brother’s big card vs Nakatani.
Here are the facts on Takuma Inoue’s win on his brother Naoya’s card today, May 2, 2026:
- Result: Takuma Inoue beat Kazuto Ioka by unanimous decision at Tokyo Dome.
- Scorecards: 120-106, 119-107, 118-108.
- Title: Takuma retained his WBC bantamweight title.
- Knockdowns: Dropped Ioka twice – late round 2 with right hand, early round 3 with right uppercut.
- Dominance: Never lost control after the knockdowns, outboxed Ioka with speed and counters.
- Open scoring: Led 40-34 after 4 rounds, 80-70 and 79-71 after 8 rounds.
- Ioka’s status: Ioka, 37, failed in bid to become Japan’s first 5-weight world champion.
- Records: Takuma moves to 22-2 (5 KOs), Ioka drops to 32-5-1 (17 KOs).
- Takuma quote: “It was a very intense battle from the first round to the third round, but it was very fun.”
- Takuma quote: “He is a legend, and I have been looking up to him throughout my career.”
- Future: Takuma called for unification with other 118-lb champs Seiya Tsutsumi, Jose Salas Reyes, or Christian Medina.
- Ioka’s future: Now 1-3 in last 4 fights, may retire after this loss.
Here was the immediate reaction today from his brother Naoya Inoue also to defeating Junto Nakatani in the main event.
