July 6, 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten Japanese prospect and the younger brother of the current WBO junior bantam champ Naoya Inoue, 19-year-old speedster Takuma Inoue (5-0, 1 KO), 114.5, impressively acquired the vacant OPBF 115-pound belt as he pounded out a unanimous decision (117-110, 116-111, 115-112) over hard-punching Filipino southpaw Mark Anthony Geraldo (31-6-3, 14 KOs), 115, over twelve heats on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. WBA#3/WBC#6/WBO#15 Takuma, whose amateur mark was 52-5, 14 stoppages, once won the national high school championship in 2011, and contested the newly crowned WBO 105-pound ruler Kosei Tanaka five times, winning twice through their hot rivalry while both of them were students.
Takuma swept the first four rounds with his fine display of quick left hooks to the lefty Geraldo and swift footwork with which he smartly averted the Filipino’s fireworks. After the fourth, the open scoring system indicated Inoue was leading on points: 40-36 by all the three judges. The next four sessions witnessed Inoue control the initiative to pile up points steadily with the open scores of 79-73 twice and 80-72, all in favor of the talented sharpshooter.
After the eleventh, the tallies were so lopsided as 109-100, 108-101 and 107-102 for Takuma. The game Filipino, however, landed a well-timed southpaw left when they mixed it up, having Takuma taste a flash knockdown midway in the twelfth and final stanza. But it didn’t actually overcome Geraldo’s great deficits on points despite the Filipino southpaw having scored a dramatic knockdown.
As talented as his elder brother Naoya, 22, Takuma had better delay his crack at the world championship, improve his power punching in combination and increase his precision in landing punches to his opponent. In his fifth pro bout, like his brother Naoya, Takuma won the OPBF regional belt to his credit.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.
OPBF supervisors: OPBF president Juan Ramon Guanzon and Dr. Nasser Cruz, both from the Philippines.
(7-6-2015)