FILIPINO boxer Michael Dasmariñas failed to dethrone Japanese Naoya Inoue, losing via technical knockout to the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight champion in the third round on Sunday (Philippine time) at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 28-year-old Inoue truly stamped his class in the fight, as he measured the also 28-year-old Dasmariñas in the first round before delivering the killer blows in the next two rounds.

Inoue unleashed a strong left hawk to the liver of Dasmariñas and followed it up with a left-right straight combo to knock the latter down at the 1:01 mark of the second round. Dasmariñas managed to get up and finish the round.

‘The Monster’ Inoue, however, went for the jugular in the third round. He sent ‘Hot N’ Spicy’ Dasmariñas once more to the canvas with another left hook that had the Filipino grimacing in pain with 39 seconds left.

Dasmariñas courageously got back up, but Inoue, sensing blood, finished him off with another left hook for the knockout with 15 ticks to go.

Dasmariñas grimaced in pain once more as the referee stopped the bout.

“Against the no.1 ranked-fighter (challenger) in Dasmariñas, I think I have a great win,” said Inoue in Japanese in an interview post-fight. “I preferred to knock him out with a head shot or body shot. I came prepared and to win with a knockout is good for me.

The 5-foot-5 Inoue, who stays undefeated with a 21-0 record laced with 18 knockouts, totally outclassed the 5-foot-7 Dasmariñas in the fight, as 31 of his 48 total punches thrown landed on the latter.

Dasmariñas fell to a 30-3-1 record with 20 knockouts.

Inoue looks forward to facing the winner between Nonito Donaire and John Riel Casimero on August 14. Donaire is the WBC champ, while Casimero is the WBO titlist.

“Of course I’d like to fight the winner of that fight,” said Inoue as beating the winner of the Donaire-Casimero bout will make him the undisputed champion in the bantamweight class. “Dramatically, it would be Donaire,” he said.