Naoya Inoue built up a 24-5 power punches landed advantage over the first three rounds. Marlon Tapales came alive in the fourth round, where he threw 53 punches, his fight high. Unfortunately for him, Inoue knocked him down at the end of the round.
Despite the knockdown, Tapales’ resurgence continued. His timely counterpunching limited Inoue to single digits in landed punches in rounds seven and eight after Inoue had strung together five consecutive rounds of double digit lands.
Tapales’ success created more openings for Inoue, who landed 23% of his jabs and 43% of his power punches, compared to 10% and 20% for Tapales. 33% of Inoue’s landed power punches were body punches. The end for Tapales came at 1:02 of the tenth round, when Inoue knocked him down and out.