Naoya Inoue cruised to another defense of his IBF and WBA bantamweight world titles Saturday, knocking out Michael Dasmarinas of the Philippines in three rounds to improve to 21-0 with 18 KOs.
Inoue, nicknamed "The Monster," sent Dasmarinas to the canvas with a body shot in the second round before landing two more in the third to dispatch the IBF's first-ranked challenger.
The 28-year-old extended his Japanese record for consecutive world title victories to 16, while notching a national-record 14th-straight world title KO.
"(Dasmarinas) didn't come out as much as I thought he would, starting the bout trying to keep the distance," said Inoue, who defended his WBA title for the fifth time and IBF crown for a third time at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
"I thought it would take a bit of time to knock him out (attacking his head), so I switched to the body."
Inoue kept southpaw Dasmarinas within his reach, using the first round to size up his opponent before unleashing his first ferocious blow in the second.
He inflicted more damage in the round by landing heavy blows with his left before finishing the job in the third, flooring Dasmarinas twice in similar fashion.
Inoue's previous win came on Oct. 31 last year at the MGM Grand Conference Center in his highly anticipated Vegas debut. The seventh-round knockout of Australian challenger Jason Moloney took place behind closed doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Inoue, a three-weight world champion, having also been WBC light flyweight and WBO super flyweight champion earlier in his career, has stated his goal of unifying the bantamweight division by adding the WBC and WBO titles to his collection.
Dasmarinas' record dropped to 30-3 with 20 KOs and one draw.