Takuma Inoue sinks Indonesian champ Sabu

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten younger brother of Naoya, WBC#9/WBA#13/IBF#11/WBO#11 Takuma Inoue (11-0, 3 KOs), 119.75, needed just 2:14 of the first round when he polished off Indonesian titlist Waldo Sabu (12-12, 2 KOs), 117.25, with a vicious body shot in a preliminary ten-round bout beneath his brother’s main event on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

Takuma, a 22-year-old talented speedster, sustained a bad fracture on the right hand and was forced to take a long rest for recovery for a year in 2016. Since then, Takuma defeated such veteran campaigners as ex-world challenger Hiroyuki Kudaka (AKA Hiroyuki Hisataka) and former national bantam champ Kentaro Masuda in succession to his credit.

Takuya, in the opening session, exploded a wicked shot to the breadbasket and sank the Indonesian champ in agony for the full count. He is gunning for an encounter with the OPBF titlist, Japan-based Filipino Mark John Yap in an eliminator for #1 in September.