By Quitano Gonzalez
Thu, Aug 27 2026
Inoue vs Nasukawa II: Why the Rematch Means More Than the First Fight
On September 27, Takuma Inoue and Tenshin Nasukawa walk back into Toyota Arena in Tokyo, ten months after their first meeting ended with three clear scorecards. Prime Video carries the card. The WBC bantamweight belt sits on the line again. Almost everything else about the setup has changed.
Junto Nakatani vacated the WBC bantamweight title in late 2025 to move up in weight, and the two best men left at 118 pounds fought for the empty belt on November 24. Nasukawa started fast. His left hand snapped through Inoue's guard in each of the opening two rounds, and the new arena bought every second of it.
The WBC ran the fight under open scoring, announcing the cards after rounds four and eight. All three judges had it 38-38 at the first reading. Fans tracking the round-by-round numbers on MelBet between rounds saw what the arena already knew. Nobody had won this one yet.
The fifth changed that. Inoue's timing arrived, uppercuts followed in the sixth, and Nasukawa's output dropped along with the bounce in his legs. Three things pushed the fight away from him:
Final cards: 116-112, 116-112, 117-111. No robbery, no war. That night ended a 53-fight winning run Nasukawa had carried across kickboxing, MMA and boxing, and it ended on points, with nobody hitting the canvas. Strange way to take a first loss.
Nasukawa answered on April 11 at Ryogoku Kokugikan against Juan Francisco Estrada, a former two-division champion with 45 wins, and went to the body from the first bell. Estrada stayed on his stool after the ninth. Mandatory status came with it.
Inoue did not stand still. He floored Kazuto Ioka twice in May and won by cards of 120-106, 119-107 and 118-108. The two men walk in with very different resumes:
Both spring wins came against opponents in their mid-to-late thirties, which softens the numbers a little. Japanese cards start in the local afternoon, an awkward hour for most of the world, so anyone who would rather follow the scoring from a phone than a laptop can télécharger MelBet and keep the updates in one place. Those Ioka cards still count.
How often does a beaten challenger get his rematch ten months later with the belt still on the line? Not often. Nasukawa has promised to settle this one inside the distance, a bold line from a man who has stopped three of his eight professional opponents. Inoue has talked about a shutout, though one report has him promising a knockout of his own.
For Inoue the stakes are quieter and heavier. He lost his WBA belt to Seiya Tsutsumi in October 2024, sat out 13 months, and spent part of that stretch openly weighing retirement. Beating Nasukawa twice would end the argument about whether the first win was a fluke, and push him another step out of his older brother's shadow.
Nasukawa carries a different burden. Forty-two wins and no losses as a kickboxer, a farewell victory over Takeru Segawa at the Tokyo Dome in 2022, then one November night that put a mark on all of it. He got his do-over faster than most fighters ever do.
Pay attention to the fourth-round announcement. Last time the even card told Nasukawa he was still in it, and he fought the fifth like a man protecting a lead he did not have.
Then keep an eye on these:
Teiken filled the card out in early August. Ryosuke Nishida meets Australia's Sam Goodman for the interim IBF super bantamweight title, a belt that exists because Naoya Inoue will not defend his four until early next year. Tomoya Tsuboi fights Ricardo Malajika for the vacant WBC super flyweight title in his fifth pro bout. Same arena, same two men in the main event, and a very different set of reasons to care.
The Night Nasukawa Ran Out of Answers
Junto Nakatani vacated the WBC bantamweight title in late 2025 to move up in weight, and the two best men left at 118 pounds fought for the empty belt on November 24. Nasukawa started fast. His left hand snapped through Inoue's guard in each of the opening two rounds, and the new arena bought every second of it.
The WBC ran the fight under open scoring, announcing the cards after rounds four and eight. All three judges had it 38-38 at the first reading. Fans tracking the round-by-round numbers on MelBet between rounds saw what the arena already knew. Nobody had won this one yet.
The fifth changed that. Inoue's timing arrived, uppercuts followed in the sixth, and Nasukawa's output dropped along with the bounce in his legs. Three things pushed the fight away from him:
- Inoue's straight right found the same gap over and over.
- All that early circling and showmanship cost Nasukawa gas in the championship rounds.
- By the eighth-round announcement, two judges had him behind, and that gap never closed.
Final cards: 116-112, 116-112, 117-111. No robbery, no war. That night ended a 53-fight winning run Nasukawa had carried across kickboxing, MMA and boxing, and it ended on points, with nobody hitting the canvas. Strange way to take a first loss.
Both Men Came Back Looking Different
Nasukawa answered on April 11 at Ryogoku Kokugikan against Juan Francisco Estrada, a former two-division champion with 45 wins, and went to the body from the first bell. Estrada stayed on his stool after the ninth. Mandatory status came with it.
Inoue did not stand still. He floored Kazuto Ioka twice in May and won by cards of 120-106, 119-107 and 118-108. The two men walk in with very different resumes:
- Inoue: 22-2 with five knockouts, a two-time champion who has already banked a defense of this belt.
- Nasukawa: 8-1 as a professional boxer, with three stoppages and the WBC number one spot.
Both spring wins came against opponents in their mid-to-late thirties, which softens the numbers a little. Japanese cards start in the local afternoon, an awkward hour for most of the world, so anyone who would rather follow the scoring from a phone than a laptop can télécharger MelBet and keep the updates in one place. Those Ioka cards still count.
Why This One Carries More Weight
How often does a beaten challenger get his rematch ten months later with the belt still on the line? Not often. Nasukawa has promised to settle this one inside the distance, a bold line from a man who has stopped three of his eight professional opponents. Inoue has talked about a shutout, though one report has him promising a knockout of his own.
For Inoue the stakes are quieter and heavier. He lost his WBA belt to Seiya Tsutsumi in October 2024, sat out 13 months, and spent part of that stretch openly weighing retirement. Beating Nasukawa twice would end the argument about whether the first win was a fluke, and push him another step out of his older brother's shadow.
Nasukawa carries a different burden. Forty-two wins and no losses as a kickboxer, a farewell victory over Takeru Segawa at the Tokyo Dome in 2022, then one November night that put a mark on all of it. He got his do-over faster than most fighters ever do.
What to Actually Watch For
Pay attention to the fourth-round announcement. Last time the even card told Nasukawa he was still in it, and he fought the fifth like a man protecting a lead he did not have.
Then keep an eye on these:
- Nasukawa's work rate after the sixth, since that is where he faded in fight one.
- Whether Inoue's right hand lands as easily against a southpaw who has now studied twelve rounds of it.
- The body attack that broke Estrada, which was missing almost entirely from fight one.
Teiken filled the card out in early August. Ryosuke Nishida meets Australia's Sam Goodman for the interim IBF super bantamweight title, a belt that exists because Naoya Inoue will not defend his four until early next year. Tomoya Tsuboi fights Ricardo Malajika for the vacant WBC super flyweight title in his fifth pro bout. Same arena, same two men in the main event, and a very different set of reasons to care.