Naoya Inoue crumples Ye Joon Kim with familiar knockout in undisputed title defence

Naoya Inoue retained his undisputed super-bantamweight titles on Friday, with an expected destruction of Ye Joon Kim.

Kim was stepping in for Sam Goodman, who withdrew from the title fight after suffering a cut over his eye, and the Korean was no match for Inoue in Tokyo.

The Japanese star crumpled his short-notice challenger in round four to remain unbeaten, undisputed, and the Indy Sport pound-for-pound No 1.

Inoue’s victory came courtesy of a clean right cross, a shot that saw Kim crash into the ropes in the corner of the ring. Moments earlier, Inoue had seemed to hurt the southpaw with a superbly-timed left hook, yet Kim beckoned him on nonetheless. And Inoue obliged, finding the perfect punch.

The referee saved Kim, 32, waving off the fight and sealing the win for Inoue, 31, at 2:25 of the fourth round.

Kim winced and looked emotional while Inoue carried out his post-fight interview, before the victorious champion led the crowd in applauding the beaten boxer, as Kim made his exit.

It was a familiar scene in a familiar venue, with Inoue dismantling yet another foe in the Ariake Arena, like he so often does. After the fight, however, US promoter Bob Arum promised to take Inoue to Las Vegas in spring – a vow he also made in September, after the Japanese boxer faced TJ Doheny.

Inoue acknowledged the plan to fight in Vegas in the coming months, although he has also begun talks with Saudi adviser Turki Alalshikh.

With Alalshikh starting to stage boxing events outside of Riyadh, it is possible that Inoue’s planned Vegas fight could coincide with a Saudi card. However, Alalshikh’s current plan seems to be a May event in New York or Los Angeles, not Vegas.