(UPDATED) Naoya "The Monster" Inoue is once again a unified world champion.

The Japanese superstar overwhelmed Filipino boxer Marlon Tapales in their bout for the super bantamweight championships, Tuesday at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue won via tenth round stoppage, with the referee putting an end to the bout at the 1:02 mark. He dropped Tapales twice in their showdown, first towards the end of the fourth round though the Filipino managed to beat the 10-count.

Tapales could not do it a second time, however, as he could not recover in time after touching the mat in the tenth round. Instead, he suffered the fourth loss of his career and second by knockout. Tapales now has a 37-4 record as a professional.

Inoue, in contrast, remains perfect as he improved to 26-0, with 23 wins coming by stoppage. More impressively for "The Monster," he now holds the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF super bantamweight championships.

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This is the second time in his career that he has won all four world titles in a division, after first unifying the bantamweight belts in December before relinquishing them to move up in weight.

"I think super-bantamweight is the most suitable weight class for me at the moment," said the 30-year-old Inoue. "Next year and the year after that, I want to prove that I can become an even stronger fighter."

Despite the loss, it was a gutsy performance for Tapales, who defended well early then went toe-to-toe with Inoue in the middle rounds, only to fall in the tenth after absorbing plenty of damage.

The Filipino boxer was on the defensive for most of the early rounds, before starting to open up in the fourth and showing a willingness to exchange with Inoue. Tapales paid for it dearly, however, as Inoue forced him to the ropes and landed a bevy of punches that dropped the Filipino to the canvas late in the fourth round.

Tapales beat the 10-count and was ultimately saved by the bell. He continued to go toe-to-toe with Inoue in the ensuing frames, but the Japanese star shrugged off most of his onslaught. In the tenth round, Inoue once again forced Tapales to the ropes and unloaded, and this time when Tapales went down he could not get up in time.

"He was very tough with a strong mentality," said Inoue of Tapales. "He kept a poker face throughout and didn't show that my punches were doing him any damage, so I was quite surprised when he went down in the tenth round."

CompuBox statistics showed that Inoue landed 146 total punches to only 52 for Tapales. Despite Tapales utilizing a defensive shell for majority of the bout, Inoue landed a whopping 114 of his 263 power punches, while the Filipino managed just 43 of 220. Tapales connected on just 16.8% of his punches throughout the 10 rounds.

The loss made for a brief reign as super bantamweight champion for Tapales. He won the WBA and IBF belts in April 2023, after a split decision triumph against Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

Inoue, for his part, overpowered Paul Butler in December 2022 to become the unified bantamweight champion. He relinquished the belts in January 2023, then fought Stephen Fulton of the United States for the WBC and WBO super bantamweight belts in July, where he won via eighth round technical knockout. -- With Agence France-Presse.

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