Improved Inoue vows to KO Nasukawa in Sept. 27 rematch
Ten months after their first meeting, WBC bantamweight titleholder Takuma Inoue wants a more conclusive outcome against Tenshin Nasukawa.
No doubt buoyed by encouraging comments from older brother and The Ring's top pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue, the 30-year-old will look to show more wrinkles in his game.
On X, the undisputed junior featherweight champion wrote: "Takuma's growth is insane. He's proving just how much a person can change once they gain confidence, or rather, until now, it felt like he never even had the drive to break through his limits from the practice stage.
"Takuma's boxing, now armed with these two skills, is freakish and terrifying... can't wait for September 27th."
Perhaps a little hyperbolic but the point still remains: riding a two-fight win streak since Seiya Tsutsumi outpointed him for WBA title honors in October 2024, he's maturing and boxing with more authority now.
Having conceded the first two rounds against former kickboxing star Nasukawa, his boxing nous, punch variety and disciplined defensive approach frustrated the younger man to the tune of a comfortable result last time out. Comfortable scorecards in Inoue’s favor spoke volumes for a two-time titleholder that doesn't exactly possess devastating punching power but instead has continued to show his quality against world-level opposition.
He twice dropped and later outpointed Kazuto Ioka on the Naoya Inoue-Junto Nakatani undercard in May, quickly becoming a reported target for Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez's brief bantamweight stay as the three-division champion plots a much-anticipated fight with his older brother early next year.
At a brief outdoor press conference on Thursday, Inoue (22-2, 5 KOs) acknowledged Nasukawa's stoppage win over faded former champion Juan Estrada on April 11 but insisted he'll score a rare finish in two months' time.
As quoted and translated by Yahoo Japan, the defending champion said: "I will definitely defeat him again. I will knock him out without leaving any openings, just like in the first fight. I'm sure the fans watching feel the same way, I'm aiming for a knockout win but being shut out is better because there's nothing you can do.
"I don't know [how much he's improved] but I'm overestimating him, practicing to use various techniques and shut him out, no matter what. I won with my experience last time and want to do it again, give Tenshin the humiliation of suffering consecutive losses to me. I don't think I have much time left in my boxing career and always feel like I'm on the edge of a cliff, so will keep that in mind and calmly go for the knockout without leaving any openings."
Nasukawa (8-1, 3 KOs) meanwhile, feels like his back is against the wall. At 27, three years into a fast-tracked professional career, he believes there's no better time than now to shake up the boxing world at 118 pounds.
"If I lose here, I don't think there'll be any hope left,” he told GONG Magazine. “The audience will feel the same way and losing to the same opponent twice ... they [the fans] won't know how to support me anymore, then I'll have no choice but to go down the entertainment route.
"I'm not thinking about what would happen with another loss, I'm just trying to surpass my performance that day and don't think an ordinary win will do. I have to get a solid knockout, a complete finish ... if you leave it to someone else's hands, it can be split."
Nasukawa promised a different approach than last year and believes the sport will be better served if he emerges victorious.
"I intend to trade blows from the start and I've also prepared to use my footwork, I'm ready for anything that comes my way in every situation,” he said. “If you fight me imagining [the same version of] me from that time, you're in for a rude awakening. I just want to get revenge and think the boxing world won't be very exciting unless I win."
ANNOUNCED: Takuma Inoue will defend his WBC bantamweight title in a rematch with Tenshin Nasukawa on September 27th in Tokyo, Japan.