An absolute "Monster" with a machine-like efficiency and penchant for inducing pain.
Naoya Inoue once again reinforced that he's just that by demolishing Michael Dasmarinas with a third-round TKO to retain his IBF and WBA world bantamweight titles Saturday night from the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
"The Monster" delivered three body shot knockdowns, punctuating his pulverizing performance with a vicious left hook to the liver in the third round. The Japanese fighter set the closing shot up by stepping back and blasting Dasmarinas with a right uppercut.
The crunching shot came after he had dropped the Filipino challenger twice in the second round on a pair of unforgiving liver shots. The first liver shot softened Dasmarinas up. The second installment had him barely beating the count before the third body shot ended the night.
Just like that, Inoue improves to 21-0 with 18 knockouts. Perhaps a rematch with Nonito Donaire makes sense at this point. Inoue became the unified bantamweight champion by defeating Donaire via unanimous decision back in November 2019. Just last month, Donaire defeated Nordine Oubaali to become the WBC bantamweight champion and will face WBO titleholder John Riel Casimero in August.
Co-main event: Mikaela Mayer defeats Erica Farias by unanimous decision
Mayer weathered early fire from Farias to build toward a unanimous decision victory to retain her WBO junior lightweight title. Judges had it 98-92, 98-92, and 97-93 in favor of Mayer, who used technically sound boxing to stamp her first successful title defense.