Takuma Inoue showed great resilience and survived confusing moments on Monday to defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight belt against Sho Ishida at the Tokyo Dome in Japan’s capital. 

Inoue earned scorecards of 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111 after being dropped in the first round due to a jab from Ishida that caught him by surprise and sent him to the canvas.

The night had an almost mystical parallel as both he and his brother Naoya went down in the first round during their bouts and recovered to cruise to victory. 

Takuma earned the second defense of his WBA belt, which he won in April of last year against Liborio Solis and first defended against Jerwin Ancajas in February of this year. Now he defeated Ishida, an opponent with experience and quality whom he was able to dominate with his speed and good counterattack. 

The bantamweight champion of the pioneer organization improved his record to 20 wins, 1 loss and 5 knockouts, while Ishida left his record at 34 wins, 4 losses and 17 knockouts.