RESULTS: NAOYA INOUE STOPS PAUL BUTLER, COMPLETELY UNIFIES BANTAMWEIGHT

By: Jay Calderon

‍In the early morning hours on Tuesday (Stateside, anyway), in Tokyo's Ariake Arena, Bantamweight kingpin Naoya Inoue successfully unified all of 118 pounds with a late stoppage of now-former titlist Paul Butler.

While many expected a rather quick outing for "The Monster", with the over/under actually set at 2.5 rounds, it was a more challenging encounter than it perhaps seemed on paper.

Inoue was never in any danger of losing the contest, as Butler seemed keen on staying alive, moving out of harm's way and simply coasting to a decision loss. While Butler lasted much longer than most expected, he did little to make a real difference during the bout.

Inoue, to his credit, continued to chip away at Butler and managed to land more frequently as the fight progressed. Finally, in the eleventh encounter, Inoue showed he can power late when he dropped Butler with a blistering barrage of punches, and Paul was simply unable to beat the count.

Time of the stoppage was 1:09 of the eleventh. Inoue improves to 24-0 with 20 stoppages, while Butler slips to 34-3.

To check out the entire results section, you can click here.