Excellent fight review. Even though the fight didn’t turn out to be a total war that most would have wanted the fight is definitely not devoid of any entertainment and drama. Started out as more of a tense slow burn that was very tactical with high level boxing from both guys. Inoue just doing more work in the beginning and showing once again why he’s such a gifted fighter. People who appreciate pure boxing would still find something to appreciate out of the first half of the fight where it’s a battle of feints, positioning, countering, and accuracy. Second half finally turned into the fight that people were wanting to see where Nakatani not only started finding more confidence in himself but landing more and winning some rounds while Inoue was getting his second wind. Nakatani showed that he was a worthy opponent for Inoue and made him work hard for the win. Although Inoue ends up fighting like the champ he is by once again turning the fight back into his favor when he landed that uppercut in round 11 that seemed to ultimately sealed the deal for him while Nakatani never stopped trying till the end. The headbutt was an unfortunate circumstance to happen with most saying that it took away Nakatani's momentum but it's honestly not a given if he would have really taken over without the clash of heads since Inoue is such an intelligent and adaptable fighter. This fight did indeed lived up to the hype, just needed more time to build up to finally deliver. A very good fight that was fought at a high level.
