Naoya Inoue vs. Michael Dasmarinas: date, time, how to watch, background

POUND-FOR-POUND STAR NAOYA INOUE OF JAPAN RETURNS TO THE RING AGAINST MICHAEL DASMARINAS ON SATURDAY IN LAS VEGS ON ESPN AND ESPN+

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NAOYA INOUE (20-0, 17 KOs)
vs. MICHAEL DASMARINAS (30-2-1, 20 KOs)

• Date: Saturday, June 19
• Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
• Where: Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
• TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
• Cost: ESPN+ is $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year
• Division: Bantamweights
• At stake: Inoue’s IBF and WBA titles
• Pound-for-pound ranking: Inoue No. 3
• Odds: Naoya 30-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)

• Also on the card: Mikaela Mayer vs. Erica Farias, junior lightweights (for Mayer’s WBO title); Adam Lopez vs. Isaac Dogboe, featherweights

• Prediction: Naoya KO 4
• Background: The gifted Inoue is No. 1 on some pound-for-pound lists (No. 3 here) for a reason: With the exception of his November 2019 bout with Nonito Donaire, the three-division titleholder has blown out one established opponent after another. He overcame a broken eye socket to defeat Donaire by a unanimous decision and unify two titles. He followed that with a seventh-round knockout of Jason Moloney in October, which demonstrated that his facial injuries had fully healed. Dasmarinas is ranked No. 1 by the IBF, which earned him this shot against Inoue, but that’s difficult to understand given the Filipino’s unimpressive resume. He hasn’t lost since 2014 but has not defeated anyone of note. The 28-year-old southpaw is coming off a fifth-round knockout of journeyman Artid Bamrungauea in October 2019, which means he will have been out of the ring for 20 months when he faces Inoue.