Following the Las Vegas super fight between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Terence Crawford, another boxer with a claim to be the very best on the planet put his titles on the line.
There was none of the outright wonderment that accompanied Crawford's masterclass to dethrone Canelo. The great Naoya Inoue was the favourite heading into Sunday's clash with Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
However, Uzbekistan's Akhmadaliev has loudly called for his shot at 'The Monster' for the past couple of years and was expected to pose a significant threat.
In reality, a one-sided demonstration of Inoue's phenomenal talents ensued. MJ's best moment of a chastening evening came when he wobbled the champ 10 seconds from the end of the final round. Inoue was awarded verdicts of 117-111 and 118-110 (twice) on the scorecards. If anything, those were generous to Akhmadaliev.
A 2016 Olympic medalist of notable technical prowess, MJ's initial problem was the speed differential as Inoue fizzed in and out of range with his concussive jab during the opener. That was a puzzle he never conclusively solved.
Instead, the challenger could be grateful for his astute defence, even if it was punctured frequently enough for Inoue to leave him with badly swollen features by the end of the evening. The real pain for Akhmadaliev came to the body.
Inoue could not extend his 11-fight KO streak. Still, this demonstration of ring mastery, having been dropped by Luis Nery and MJ's gymmate Ramon Cardenas recently, showed a fighter laser-focused on cementing his greatness.
David Picasso is likely to be the next challenger, before a 2026 superfight with Junto Nakatani. Both will fancy their chances. They might be wise to ask Akhmadaliev for his observations.
Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev full card results
- Naoya Inoue (c) def. Murodjon Akhmadaliev (UD 12) for the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine super bantamweight titles
- Christian Medina def. Yoshiki Takei (c) (TKO 4/12) to win the WBO bantamweight title
- Ryusei Matsumoto def. Yuni Takada (TD 5/12) for the vacant WBA 'regular' minimum title
- Taiga Imanaga def. Yudai Murakami (UD 10) to win the vacant Japanese lightweight title
- Shunpei Ohata def. Ei Go (TKO 4/8); super featherweights
- Toshiki Shimomachi def. Han Sol Lee (UD 8); super bantamweights
- Taisei Ayano def. Yusuke Nawa (TKO 2/4); bantamweights
Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev tune-in info
- Date: Sunday, September 14
- Location: IG Arena — Nagoya, Japan
- Time: 4:15 a.m. ET | 1:15 a.m. PT | 9:15 a.m. BST | 8:15 p.m. AEST
- Main event start time (approx.): 6:40 a.m. ET | 3:40 a.m. PT | 11:40 a.m. BST | 9:40 p.m. AEST
- How to watch: Facebook
Promoter Top Rank is streaming the fight free of charge in the UK and the US on its Facebook channel