Naoya Inoue: The Monster From Zama Who Conquered Two Divisions

Naoya Inoue grew up in a boxing family in Zama, Kanagawa, won a world title in his sixth professional fight and went on to become undisputed champion at both bantamweight and super bantamweight. As of his May 2026 win over Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome, the man called "The Monster" is unbeaten in 33 professional fights.

A Boxing Household in Zama

Inoue was born on April 10, 1993, in Zama, a commuter city in Kanagawa Prefecture southwest of Tokyo. Boxing came from home. His father, Shingo Inoue, had boxed as an amateur and became his son's trainer, and the same family later produced two more professionals: Naoya's younger brother Takuma and their cousin Koki.

In 2009 he won the national high school championships and the Japanese junior national title. In 2010 he took bronze at the Asian Youth Championships in Tehran, and in 2011 he won gold at the President's Cup in Jakarta. His amateur career finished at 75 wins and 6 defeats, 48 of the wins inside the distance. Two of those losses came against Cuba's Yosvany Veitia, and a defeat to Kazakhstan's Birzhan Zhakypov at the 2012 Asian Olympic qualifier ended his hopes of competing at the London Games.

A World Title by the Sixth Fight

Inoue turned professional on October 2, 2012, and knocked out Filipino Crison Omayao in the fourth round. In only his fourth fight, in August 2013, he outpointed Ryoichi Taguchi over ten rounds to win the Japanese light flyweight title.

On April 6, 2014, in his sixth professional fight, Inoue stopped Mexico's Adrian Hernandez in the sixth round to take the WBC light flyweight title. He defended it once, stopping Samartlek Kokietgym in the eleventh round in September 2014, and then gave up the belt to move up in weight.

Two Rounds Against Omar Narvaez

Inoue skipped flyweight completely and on December 30, 2014, challenged Argentina's Omar Narvaez for the WBO junior bantamweight title. Inoue knocked the Argentine out in the second round. That win made the 21-year-old a two-division world champion.

He held the WBO belt through seven successful defenses, the last of them a third-round knockout of Frenchman Yoan Boyeaux on December 30, 2017. After that he moved up again.

Bantamweight and the World Boxing Super Series

On May 25, 2018, in his bantamweight debut, Inoue stopped Britain's Jamie McDonnell in the first round to take the WBA title and become a world champion in a third weight class.

He then entered the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament, an elimination event whose winner received the Muhammad Ali Trophy. In the quarterfinal on October 7, 2018, he knocked out Juan Carlos Payano in the first round, and The Ring named that finish its Knockout of the Year. In the semifinal in May 2019 he stopped Puerto Rico's Emmanuel Rodriguez in the second round.

The Donaire War in Saitama

The final took place on November 7, 2019, at the Saitama Super Arena against the Filipino veteran Nonito Donaire. Inoue came in 18-0 and heavily favored, but it turned into the hardest fight of his career up to that point. In the second round Donaire landed a left hook that cut Inoue over the right eye, and Inoue later said the punch left him with double vision. ESPN reported that he broke his orbital bone and his nose in the second or third round.

In the eleventh round he dropped Donaire with a left hook to the body, and Donaire got up and hurt him again before the round was over. The judges scored it 117-109, 116-111 and 114-113 for Inoue, who took home the Ali Trophy along with unified bantamweight titles. The Ring and other outlets named it Fight of the Year for 2019.

Four Belts at 118 Pounds

Inoue then knocked out Jason Moloney, Michael Dasmarinas and Aran Dipaen. On June 7, 2022, the Donaire rematch took place, again in Saitama, and it was nothing like the first fight. ESPN reported that Inoue dropped Donaire with a right hand late in the first round and again with a combination in the second, and the fight was stopped 1:24 into that round. The win gave Inoue the WBC title, his third bantamweight belt. Afterward he told ESPN, "My goal is to be the undisputed champion."

He got there on December 13, 2022. Inoue knocked out Britain's Paul Butler in the eleventh round, becoming the first undisputed bantamweight champion of the four-belt era. In January 2023 he gave up all four titles and moved up to super bantamweight.

Fulton, Tapales and a Second Undisputed Crown

For his first fight at 122 pounds, on July 25, 2023, at Tokyo's Ariake Arena, Inoue went straight for the division's top fighter, the unbeaten American Stephen Fulton, who held the WBC and WBO titles. Inoue controlled the fight and dropped Fulton early in the eighth round. He then trapped him in a corner, and the referee stopped it 1:14 into the round. That made Inoue a world champion in four weight classes.

Five months later, on December 26, 2023, again at Ariake Arena, he met the Philippines' Marlon Tapales, who held the WBA and IBF belts. Inoue knocked Tapales down in the fourth round and finished him 1:02 into the tenth. He was now the first undisputed super bantamweight champion of the four-belt era, and Sky Sports noted that only Terence Crawford had previously won undisputed four-belt titles in two divisions. The Ring, ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America each named Inoue their Fighter of the Year for 2023.

Down for the First Time at the Tokyo Dome

On May 6, 2024, boxing returned to the Tokyo Dome for Inoue's defense against Mexico's Luis Nery. In the first round Nery, a southpaw, landed a left hook that put Inoue on the canvas for the first time as a professional. Inoue got up and took the count.

Inoue dropped Nery with a left hook in the second round, though reports disagree on whether it landed to the head or the body. He floored Nery again with a left in the fifth, and in the sixth a right hand sent the challenger down into the ropes and the referee stopped the fight. Sources also give slightly different times for the stoppage, but all agree it came in round six.

Las Vegas, Records and the Nakatani Showdown

He stopped TJ Doheny in September 2024 and Kim Ye-joon in January 2025. On May 4, 2025, he fought in Las Vegas against Ramon Cardenas and was knocked down for the second time in his career, in the second round, before stopping Cardenas in the eighth. Then came two twelve-round decisions, both on clear scorecards: against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September 2025 and David Picasso in December 2025.

The biggest fight of his career followed on May 2, 2026, at a sold-out Tokyo Dome, where Al Jazeera reported a crowd of 55,000. His opponent was Junto Nakatani, also Japanese, also unbeaten, and a world champion in three weight classes. They went the full twelve rounds, and the judges scored it 116-112, 115-113 and 116-112 for Inoue. Al Jazeera reported that an accidental clash of heads in the tenth round cut Nakatani above the eye. Inoue's Wikipedia biography goes further and says Nakatani fractured his left eye socket in the eleventh.

The win took Inoue to 33-0 with 27 knockouts and extended his streak in world title fights to 28 straight wins. He said that night that the Nakatani fight was not the end of his career and that he wanted to fight at the Tokyo Dome again.

Sources

• Naoya Inoue, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Japan's Inoue beats Nakatani to retain undisputed super bantamweight title, Al Jazeera, May 3, 2026
• Naoya Inoue vs. Nonito Donaire: 2019's fight of the year, ESPN, 2019
• Naoya Inoue adds WBC bantamweight title, improves to 23-0 with second-round KO of Nonito Donaire, ESPN, June 7, 2022
• Naoya Inoue stops Stephen Fulton and wins world titles in his 4th weight class, Fox Sports, July 25, 2023
• Naoya Inoue strikes down Marlon Tapales in 10 rounds to become two-division undisputed champion, Sky Sports, December 26, 2023
• Naoya Inoue overcomes shock knockdown to stop Luis Nery in sixth round in Tokyo, Sky Sports, May 6, 2024
• 'Monster' Inoue retains undisputed world super bantamweight titles by stopping Nery in 6, Boxing News Japan, May 2024