Key events<\/p>\n
Show key events only<\/p>\n
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n
That\u2019ll do it for our live coverage. Thanks for sticking with us through internet difficulties in Tokyo! Full fight report coming soon.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the official scorecard from tonight\u2019s main event:<\/p>\n The scorecard from Saturday\u2019s fight. Photograph: Bryan Armen Graham\/The GuardianShare<\/a><\/p>\n Inoue was able to turn back a hardy Nakatani rally in the middle rounds to come away with the close but uncontroversial decision.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.33 EDT<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, everyone!\u201d Inoue said<\/a> through an interpreter after the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to show some appreciation for Junto Nakatani for fighting me tonight. A year ago at the world ceremony, I called out Junto to fight me one day and a year later it happened. I wanted to show you guys that I would be the winner, and I did everything to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about his future, Inoune said, \u201cI think I need to rest for a little bit.\u201d This was his fifth fight in the last 15 months.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Naoya Inoue has now made seven consecutive successful defenses of his four belts (WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF) at super-bantamweight.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Inoue beats Nakatani by unanimous decision<\/p>\n Naoya Inoue has retained his undisputed super-bantamweight championship with a 12-round unanimous-decision win over Junto Nakatani before a soldout crowd of about 55,000 spectators at the Tokyo Dome.<\/p>\n The official judges\u2019 scores were 116-112 (twice) and 115-113. The Guardian had it at 115-113 to Inoue.<\/p>\n The fighters embrace at the final bell. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesNaoya Inoue (right) celebrates defeating Junto Nakatani in their super bantamweight championship boxing contest. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.02 EDT<\/p>\n The internet has gone out at the Tokyo Dome and is preventing us from live round-by-round coverage, but we\u2019re in the 10th round now. Inoue is up. Stay tuned for more updates as we can get them.<\/p>\n The fighters eye each other during the fourth round. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesNaoya Inoue (left) lands a right on Junto Nakatani during the seventh round. Photograph: Hiro Komae\/APNaoya Inoue (right) and Junto Nakatani exchange blows. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.33 EDT<\/p>\n The waiting is over. The final instructions have been given by the referee, the seconds are out and we\u2019ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n And now here comes Inoue. He\u2019s played out by a live band to Tomoyasu Hotei\u2019s Battle Without Honor or Humanity \u2013 the Kill Bill Vol 1 song \u2013 and he\u2019s really leaning into the moment. It takes him nearly five minutes to reach the ring from the stage where the pyro is belching fireballs that can be felt from the cheap seats.<\/p>\n Naoya Inoue walks to the ring ahead of Saturday\u2019s main event. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n The fighters are making their ringwalks. Michael Buffer has taken his place at the center of the ring and first introduces Nakatani, the challenger. The 55,000-strong crowd falls into complete silence as he makes his pyrotechnic-flecked entrance to a Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi rock song. Nakatani looks calm and confident as he makes the long walk to the squared circle in a sparkling gold robe with white trim.<\/p>\n Junto Nakatani makes his entrance ahead of Saturday\u2019s fight. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.51 EDT<\/p>\n That\u2019s it for the undercard. A lot of people think the earlier Jin Sasaki-Sora Tanaka fight should have been slated here. But that was an awfully fun scrap between Takei and Wang for the co-main event \u2013 or semi-final as it\u2019s being billed in-house.<\/p>\n Takei, who held the WBO\u2019s version of the bantamweight title before losing it to Mexico\u2019s Christian Medina last year, gets back in the win column with an eight-round majority-decision win. The scores were 77-75, 76-76 and 78-74.<\/p>\n Yoshiki Takei (left) takes a punch during Saturday\u2019s fight with DeKang Wang. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>Tale of the tape<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Inoue and Nakatani measure up ahead of tonight\u2019s main event. The naturally bigger challenger will bring in advantages across height (three inches), reach (one inch) and age (five years). His southpaw stance is also of note given Inoue\u2019s fleeting vulnerability to the counter left. Both came in under the super-bantamweight division limit of 122lb at yesterday\u2019s weigh-in.<\/p>\n Naoya Inoue v Junto Nakatani<\/a>Share<\/a><\/p>\n Yoshiki Takei and DeKang Wang are midway through a scheduled eight-round junior featherweight scrap. That will be the last preliminary bout of the night before Inoue and Nakatani. We are a little behind schedule at this point with the main event having been expected to go off at 9pm local time, but it shouldn\u2019t be much longer now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Takama Inoue retains WBC 118lb title<\/p>\n Takuma Inoue, Naoya\u2019s younger brother, has just defended his WBC bantamweight title with a 12-round unanimous-decision win over Kazuto Ioka on the undercard. Ioka recovered nicely from a pair of early knockdowns in the second and third rounds, but the outcome was never in doubt \u2013 particularly with the open scoring in use. The official scores were 118-108, 119-107 and 120-106.<\/p>\n The 37-year-old Ioka fell short in his bid to win a world title in a fifth different weight class, joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford, the recently retired American star<\/a> who is taking in tonight\u2019s fights<\/a> from ringside.<\/p>\n Kazuto Ioka (left) is dropped to the canvas by Takuma Inoue during their bantamweight title fight on Saturday at the Tokyo Dome. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty ImagesTakuma Inoue (left) lands a punch during the fifth round. Photograph: Hiro Komae\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.14 EDT<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n Welcome to the Tokyo Dome for what\u2019s sure to be an unforgettable occasion in the annals of Japanese sport. Naoya Inoue<\/a> and Junto Nakatani, two multiple-weight boxing champions with identical 32-0 records, meet tonight at a sold-out stadium in a long-awaited showdown that has been accurately billed as the biggest fight in Japan\u2019s rich boxing history. A crowd of 55,000 fans have packed the Big Egg during the Golden Week holiday with countless more watching in sold-out cinemas across the country.<\/p>\n For Inoue, this is familiar terrain. The 33-year-old undisputed 122lb champion has spent nearly his entire professional life carving through boxing\u2019s weight divisions with a unique cocktail of speed, footwork and concussive power, winning titles at 108lb and 115lb before unifying all four major belts at bantamweight and super-bantamweight in a destructive ascent that has drawn comparisons to Manny Pacquiao. Known as the Monster, he enters tonight\u2019s bout on a run of 28 straight wins in world championship fights and rarely been extended the distance, even if recent outings have offered flickers of vulnerability.<\/p>\n But Nakatani is not just another challenger. Five years younger, naturally bigger and a rangy southpaw, the 28-year-old arrives as perhaps the most dangerous opponent of Inoue\u2019s career. A three-division world champion who has honed his craft in Los Angeles, where he moved from Japan<\/a> as a teenager to train under Rudy Hernandez, Nakatani brings in physical advantages in height (three inches) and reach (one inch) along with the kind of quiet confidence that has defined his rise.<\/p>\n People gather in the ring before the world bantamweight title match between Takuma Inoue and Kazuto Ioka on Saturday night at the Tokyo Dome. Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The stakes extend beyond belts and domestic bragging rights. Both fighters are fixtures in the pound-for-pound conversation, with Inoue at No 2 and Nakatani at No 6 on Ring Magazine\u2019s most recent list<\/a>. It is rare enough in boxing today for the best to meet at their peak. Rarer still for them to do so on a stage like this.<\/p>\n The fight has been dubbed \u300c\u4e16\u7d00\u306e\u4e00\u6226\u300d \u2013 the \u201cFight of the Century\u201d \u2013 by Japan\u2019s big five sports dailies. Hyperbole is part of boxing\u2019s fundamental grammar. But on nights like this, it can feel justified. Stay with us for live updates, round-by-round coverage and reaction as one of the most anticipated fights of the year unfolds in Tokyo.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here\u2019s his lookahead<\/a> to Saturday\u2019s main event in Tokyo.<\/p>\n