But by the end of the fight, Ryan had silenced the crowd and left Inoue's face bearing the marks of a back-and-forth war. One which many of Ryan's training partners and fellow boxers back home in Australia felt that he had won.

That, however, was not how the judges scored it at Korakuen Hall. They ruled it a majority draw; a result with which Ryan's training partner and fellow Black 'n' Blue Boxing pro, Albert Nolan, disagreed.

"I did think he'd done enough, points-wise," Nolan said.

"[Inoue] was missing too much, but I also thought 'You are in his backyard, you're going to have to maybe stop him to get the win'."

One2Boxing head coach, Jamie Carroll, has had a number of his fighters spar with Ryan and emerge better for the experience, and his thoughts mirrored Nolan's.

After Inoue got away to a fast start, Carroll thought Ryan had done enough in the middle and later rounds to get an unassailable lead. Although he did concede that he "might be biased".

"I thought Wade was hard done by," he said.

"It was a tough 12 rounds, I personally think he did enough to win. It was a close enough fight, but going over there and fighting in Japan - what an effort. And what a legend coming from Gunnedah and achieving all that he's done. He's brought boxing a long way in the area."

Aside from Tim Tszyu, Inoue is the most elite and dangerous opponent Ryan has faced.

The Japanese star has fought Tzsyu and Jaime Munguia for world titles, and only lost twice in his career.

But, as former Tamworth resident and undefeated pro Brandon Grach said, Ryan's style made him a unique challenge to even the best boxers.

"I would have given it to Wade, but it's tricky," Grach said.

"Takeshi looked like the one who was more busted up after the fight, and that often tells the story. A fighter like Wade is sometimes hard to score, because he's unorthodox, sometimes he's slippery, sometimes he's banging on.

"In all senses of the matter, Wade's a tough person to be in the ring with."

Nonetheless, Nolan believes a draw will still benefit Ryan, who is on one of the best streaks of his career. Previous wins over Jay Ar Inson and Sergei Vorobev, along with last night's fight, prove that he is among the world's best in the division.

That he is enjoying this kind of late career surge does not surprise Nolan, who believes there is one advantage that Ryan holds over almost all his opposition.

"Even though he is older, he's still fitter than all of the younger fellas that I've trained with, and myself," Nolan said.

"He's levels above me with fitness, it's crazy."