Inoue captures undisputed bantamweight title

Naoya Inoue, ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer, won the undisputed bantamweight championship with an 11th-round KO of Paul Butler on Tuesday in Tokyo.

The Japanese star unloaded a flurry of power shots that floored Butler for the 10-count at 1:09 of the penultimate round.

Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) entered the ring with the WBA, WBC and IBF titles at 118 pounds, and he added Butler’s WBO belt to become the first undisputed champion from Japan since the three-belt era began in 1983.

“This is the proudest moment of my career,” Inoue said through an interpreter. “I am honored to become undisputed champion at bantamweight. This is my last fight at this weight. I am excited to see what is in store [at junior featherweight].”