Fighter of the Month: Naoya Inoue continues to fight like a 'Monster'

Can anyone compete with Naoya Inoue? The answer to that question appears to be “no.”

Marlon Tapales gave the gifted Japanese star more resistance than most of his opponents but he suffered the same fate as all but three of them, getting knocked out by his fellow unified 122-pound titleholder in the 10th round on Dec. 26 in Tokyo.

Inoue made history in the process. He became only the second boxer in the four-belt era to win all the major titles in a second division. Terence Crawford was the first to do so.

And Inoue continued to build a case that he’s the best fighter in the world, although he sits at No. 2 behind Crawford on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list.

Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) controlled the fight from beginning to end but took more punches than he typically does and had difficulty breaking down the resilient Tapales (37-4, 19 KOs).

The Filipino southpaw went down under a series of hard punches to the head and body in Round 4, which seemed to be the beginning of the end. However, he survived that adversity to do his best work in Rounds 7 and 8.

Tapales found a way to land counter punches more consistently than he had earlier in the fight and took everything Inoue threw at him in those rounds.

However, his rally (if that’s what it was) didn’t last long. Inoue, who remained persistent throughout, gave notice that he wanted another early night by hurting Tapales with a combination of power punches late in Round 9.

The end came in the following round. Naoya split Tapales’ guard with a straight right hand that forced his opponent to his knees and then all fours. And he wasn’t able to get up, making him “The Monster’s” seventh consecutive knockout victim.

That made him an easy choice for Boxing Junkie Fighter of the Month.

And he doesn’t appear to be slowing down at 30 years old. We have a feeling that many more accolades — perhaps No. 1 pound-for-pound? — will come his way before all is said and done.