With just a handful of professional bouts on his resume, Naoya Inoue (6-0, 5 KOs) of Yokohama, Japan, scored an impressive sixth round TKO over WBC light flyweight champion Adrian “Confesor” Hernandez (29-3-1, 18 KO’s) to win his first world championship. Inoue was favored to win, though Hernandez was expected to put up a more difficult challenge and instead brought little to match the skills of his 20 year old opponent. The end came in the closing seconds of the sixth frame after Inoue dropped Hernandez with a right hand that saw the defending champion badly hurt and though beating the count, having the fight waved off with Hernandez unable to continue.
In two prior outings, Inoue won the Japanese and OPBF light flyweight titles. He is also a seven time national high school champion. Hernandez won the strap from Kompayak Porpramook at the end of 201 and had made three successful defenses. It was his second reign as WBC title holder; he briefly held the title in 2011 but lost to Porpramook in the pairs first match up.
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