By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Monster Naoya’s younger brother, Takuma Inoue (18-1, 4 KOs), 118, acquired the vacant WBA bantamweight belt as he earned a unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 118-110) over Venezuelan Liborio Solis (35-7-1, 16 KOs), 117.5, over twelve close rounds on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. It was the belt his brother had renounced on moving up to the 122-pound category. Despite the unanimous verdict it wasn’t an easy victory for Takuma, 27, who couldn’t show his usual speed and skills only to mix it up in the close quarter and repeated clinching with the 41-year-old veteran.
Takuma took the initiative with overhand rights to the face of Solis in the first three rounds with ease. But the Venezuelan attempted to mix up with the sharper Japanese, and occasionally scored with a solid punch at a time. The fifth saw Takuma bleeding from a gash over the left eyebrow by an accidental butt, though Takuma claimed it was produced by Liborio’s elbow.
In the middle rounds it became a close affair with each scoring few effective blows but repeating clinches in the close range.
It was Takuma that dominated the last three sessions with his desperate aggression against the fading veteran. It wasn’t Takuma’s best showing, while Liborio also displayed an inferior performance to our expectations.
The newly crowned Takuma once acquired the WBC interim 118-pound belt, but in a WBC unification bout with the full titlist Nordine Oubaali, France, here in 2019, Takuma hit the canvas once to lose a unanimous nod. Since then, he registered five victories and finally regained the world bantam belt, following his great brother’s footstep. But he has more room to improve to catch up with Naoya.
Takuma said, “I cannot run away from my position as Naoya’s brother. I have to strengthen myself to be a good champion.”
Promoter: Teiken Promotions
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18-1 with 4 knockouts! Clearly, power doesn’t run in the family.
Championships do!