Boxing superstar Naoya ‘The Monster’ Inoue adds WBC bantamweight title, improves to 23-0 with second-round KO of Nonito Donaire

Naoya Inoue is known as “Monster” for good reason.

When he met Nonito Donaire in November 2019, Inoue was genuinely tested for the first time in ESPN’s Fight of the Year. He defeated Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs) via unanimous decision on that night.

But 31 months later, Inoue made easy work of the future Hall of Famer with a second-round TKO in their bantamweight title unification bout Tuesday in Japan.

Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs) floored Donaire with a sharp right hand in the closing seconds of Round 1, and then dropped him again in Round 2.

Punches Inoue Donaire Total landed 42 16 Total thrown 85 71 Percent 49% 23% Jabs landed 5 0 Jabs thrown 30 29 Percent 17% 0% Power landed 37 16 Power thrown 55 42 Percent 67% 38% — Courtesy of CompuBox

A left hook from Inoue stunned Donaire, before the Japanese star trapped him in the corner and unleashed a barrage of punches that floored him a second time.

Donaire, 39, beat the count but was in no shape to continue, and the referee stopped the bout at 1:24 of the round.

With the victory, Inoue added a third 118-pound title and cemented himself as ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer.