World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue of Ohashi Boxing Gym, coming back from the first-round knockdown, pounded out a 12-roudn unanimous decision over top-ranked Sho Ishida of Ioka Boxing Gym on May 6 at Tokyo Dome.

  It was the 28-year-old Inoue’s second successful defense of the title he captured in April last year.

  Inoue, a younger brother of Naoya Inoue, defended his title within a short span of time as he retained the title for the first time by knocking out Jerwin Ancajas of the Philippines on Feb. 24.

  Two of the three judges had it 117-111, respectively, while the third judge scored the fight 118-110, all in favor of Inoue.

  But Inoue got off to a bad start as he was sent to the canvas with his taller opponent’s long left jab to the head in the first round. But Inoue stood up quickly to beat the referee’s count.

  Inoue began to get inside and landed right uppercuts and left hooks to the body to pile up points.

  While the 32-year-old Ishida also stuck out left jabs, he failed to land his right-hand punches well, which cost him the rounds. In the following rounds, neither boxer was able to land decisive blows.

  After the fight, Inoue said, ‘’Mr. Ishida’s jabs were stronger than I had expected. I was able to win the tight game. That was the only harvest for me today.’’

  With the win, Inoue improved his record to 20 wins, including five knockouts, against a loss, while Ishida impaired to a 34-4 win-loss record with 17 KOs.

  The fight was one of the four world title fights at the dome, in which Naoya Inoue earned a devastating technical knockout win over the World Boxing Council’s top-ranked challenger Luis Nery of Mexico as the main event.