Naoya Inoue Fight Record And History

Easily one of the most exciting boxers in the world, Naoya Inoue has been putting opponents to the mat in dramatic fashion for over a decade en route to making history across the divisions.

Right now, the Japanese pugilist is the undisputed king of the super bantamweight division, but with ‘The Monster’ still only in his early 30s, there’s plenty of road ahead to conquer more of the sport.

Here’s how Inoue rose to prominence and became one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the men’s rankings and where his career looks to take him next.

Complete Fight Record

From his first victory onward, this is Naoya Inoue’s complete fight record to date, including the result of bout and his method of victory.

• Win (KO) vs Crison Omayao (02/10/2012)
• Win (KO) vs Bunnam Thammakhun (05/01/2013)
• Win (TKO) vs Yuki Sano (16/04/2013)
• Win (UD) vs Ryoichi Taguchi (25/08/2013)
• Win (TKO) vs Jerson Mancio (06/12/2013)
• Win (TKO) vs Adrián Hernández (06/04/2014)
• Win (TKO) vs Wittawas Basapean (05/09/2014)
• Win (KO) vs Omar Narváez (30/12/2014)
• Win (TKO) vs Warlito Parrenas (29/12/2015)
• Win (UD) vs David Carmona (08/05/2016)
• Win (KO) vs Karoon Jarupianlerd (04/09/2016)
• Win (TKO) vs Kohei Kono (30/12/2016)
• Win (KO) vs Ricardo Rodriguez (21/05/2017)
• Win (RTD) vs Antonio Nieves (09/09/2017)
• Win (TKO) vs Yoan Boyeaux (30/12/2017)
• Win (TKO) vs Jamie McDonnell (25/05/2018)
• Win (KO) vs Juan Carlos Payano (07/10/2018)
• Win (KO) vs Emmanuel Rodríguez (18/05/2019)
• Win (UD) vs Nonito Donaire (07/11/2019)
• Win (KO) vs Jason Moloney (31/10/2020)
• Win (KO) vs Michael Dasmarinas (19/06/2021)
• Win (TKO) vs Aran Dipaen (14/12/2021)
• Win (TKO) vs Nonito Donaire (07/06/2022)
• Win (KO) vs Paul Butler (13/12/2022)
• Win (TKO) vs Stephen Fulton (25/07/2023)
• Win (KO) vs Marlon Tapales (26/12/2023)
• Win (TKO) vs Luis Nery (06/05/2024)
• Win (TKO) vs TJ Doheny (03/09/2024)

Across 28 bouts in his professional career, Inoue has won all 28 and knocked out 25 opponents, giving him a truly monstrous knockout percentage of 89.29 per cent. Scarier still, his last non-KO finish was back in November 2019.

Next, the promising but comparatively untested Sam Goodman will enter the ring with ‘The Monster.’ Even with his 19-0 record, the Aussie is the heavy underdog in the betting for their 24 December 2024 meet.

Amateur Record

Beginning his ascent in 2009, Inoue won the Japanese Junior National Championships to springboard to bronze in the Asian Youth Championships the very next year.

As an amateur, though, success wasn’t as seemingly guaranteed for a young ‘Monster,’ with his 2011 President’s Cup triumph and Japanese interscholastic honours being followed by an early elimination at the World Amateur Boxing Championships that year, as well as a loss in the final of the 2012 Olympic qualifiers.

Still, Inoue’s final amateur record does hint at what was to come, with the light flyweight clocking in 48 knockouts across 81 fights – 75 of which he won.

Early Fight Highlights

Commencing his career with a fourth-round knockout of Crison Omayao at Tokyo’s famed Kōrakuen Hall in October 2012, Inoue’s team kept him busy on his quick rise to the world stage.

Inoue would fight four more times before 2013 concluded, with only Ryoichi Taguchi lasting the rounds – a ten-rounder for the Japan Boxing Commission’s light flyweight title.

World Light Flyweight Champion

The first of many world title fights for ‘The Monster’ came on 6 April 2014, against the 29-2-1 Adrián Hernández for the WBC World light flyweight belt. Going 6-0 and becoming a world champion, Inoue won by TKO in the sixth.

Inoue then defended his title against Wittawas Basapean – otherwise known as Samartlek Kokietgym – with a much more timid 11th-round TKO triumph. Next, it’d be a step up of two weight classes.

World Super Flyweight Champion

On 30 December 2014, he faced Omar Narváez, who was 43-1-2 coming into the bout and a huge step up for Inoue’s first fight at super flyweight for the WBO World strap.

It seemed to only spur the young Japanese boxer on to be even more devastating. Narváez was put to the mat twice in the first round, endured more punishment, and went down two more times in the second for the KO.

After seven more battles defending his super flyweight crown – one of which saw David Carmona go 12 rounds but lose by unanimous decision – Inoue made the two-division jump to bantamweight.

Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion

Announcing himself in the bantamweight division, Inoue took on WBA World champion Jamie McDonnell, with the Yorkshire native bringing his strap to Japan for the bout.

In just the first round, the man formerly undefeated at bantamweight was made to regret making the roughly 14-hour flight, being put to the canvas by a clean hook to the head early, eventually forcing a TKO at 1:52.

Next, Inoue entered the crowded field of the 2018/19 World Boxing Super Series. In there with the likes of Nonito Donaire, Emmanuel Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Payano, Ryan Burnett, and Zolani Tete with world titles up for grabs, it was quite the achievement by Comosa AG to get all of these boxers to agree to the knockout tournament.

Inoue made short work of the fifth-ranked Payano, winning with a first-round knockout, and then crumpled Rodríguez three times to stop the bout in the second, advance to the final, and add the IBF World strap to his collection.

Battling for the Muhammad Ali belt in the final, as well as the WBA and IBF World titles – Tete bailed from the tournament with the WBO World strap after beating Mikhail Aloyan – Inoue stared down Donaire.

In what proved to be the best fight of 2019, the two slugged it out for 12 rounds, with Inoue’s eyebrow busting open and Donaire feeling the full force of Inoue’s body hooks. In the end, Inoue won by unanimous decision.

Four fights later, which includes a TKO triumph over Donaire in the second round of their June 2022 rematch, Inoue would finally track down Tete’s old WBO World belt, finding it around Cheshire’s 34-2 Paul Butler.

Butler showed his grit but was outclassed from the first round, eventually succumbing to a flurry of trademark body shots to watch on as Inoue became the first undisputed world bantamweight champion for 50 years.

Undisputed World Super Bantamweight Champion

With bantamweight conquered, it was on to super bantamweight with a huge test against Stephen Fulton for his WBC and WBO World belts. Fulton’s boxing skill was undeniable, as was his mighty 21-0 record.

While he certainly won some rounds with his superb footwork and defensive ability, Fulton would eventually be ground down without being able to show much offence, losing by TKO in the eighth round.

In just his second super bantamweight rumble, Inoue became the first boxer to ever be named the undisputed world super bantamweight champion and only the third of the four-belt era to be undisputed in two divisions – alongside Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford.

To do this, he had to get past Marlon Tapales, which he did with a devastating knockout in the tenth. Since then, he’s successfully defended his haul against Luis Nery (sixth-round TKO) and TJ Doheny (seventh-round TKO).

Inoue vs Goodman

For his 29th professional bout, Inoue will enter the ring for the third time in 2024 to defend the undisputed throne a third time against Australia’s Sam Goodman at the Ariake Arena in Kōtō, Tokyo.

As would be assumed from his record, Inoue is the heavy boxing betting favourite, and deservedly so. Goodman’s yet to be defeated in 19 bouts, going 19-0 with eight knockout wins, but this is a different level entirely.

The New South Wales resident has thrown down with TJ Doheny over ten rounds and Ra’eese Aleem over 12, earning solid victories in both on the scorecards in 2023, but this will be his first professional fight outside of Australia and against the best P4P boxer in the world right now.

While Inoue did suffer his first career knockdown against Luis Nery earlier this year, and Goodman has proven himself an elusive, skilled boxer with a stiff and active jab, the 26-year-old is up against in this one.

After Goodman, if ‘The Monster’ retains his titles, the assumption would be that he steps up to try to unify the splintered featherweight division and, perhaps, take on British power-pack and WBA World champion Nick Ball.

Then again, if he stays put for a few months while the featherweight champions try to consolidate a couple of titles, he could entertain fighting his very highly-rated compatriot Junto Nakatani, who’s 29-0 with 22 KOs, currently the WBC World bantamweight champion, and is already a three-weight world champion at 26-years-old.