Naoya Inoue is a Japanese undefeated professional boxer.
53 Facts About Naoya Inoue
2.
Naoya Inoue is a three-division world champion and the former undisputed bantamweight world champion, having held the WBA, IBF, Ring magazine titles between 2019 and January 2023, and the WBC and WBO titles between 2022 and January 2023.
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Naoya Inoue previously held the WBA bantamweight title from 2018 to 2019, the WBO junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2018, and the WBC light-flyweight title in 2014.
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Naoya Inoue is ranked as the best bantamweight by The Ring, TBRB, ESPN, and BoxRec.
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Naoya Inoue won the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting and the Japanese Junior National Championships in 2009.
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Naoya Inoue then participated in the AIBA Youth World Championships, but lost to Yosvany Veitia in the third preliminary round.
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Naoya Inoue finished in the second place at the Japanese National Championships in the same year.
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Naoya Inoue subsequently won the first place in the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting in that year.
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Naoya Inoue turned professional in 2012, signing with Ohashi Boxing Gym.
10.
On 25 August 2013, Naoya Inoue captured the Japanese light flyweight title from the WBA's number three-ranked contender, and future WBA, IBF, and Ring magazine light flyweight champion, Ryoichi Taguchi.
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Naoya Inoue then fought for the vacant OPBF light flyweight title on 6 December 2013 on the undercard of Yaegashi-Sosa.
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Naoya Inoue defeated Jerson Mancio with a 5th-round TKO to claim the regional title.
13.
Naoya Inoue stopped Adrian Hernandez to be crowned the WBC light flyweight champion in his sixth professional bout at Ota-City General Gymnasium on 6 April 2014.
14.
Naoya Inoue routed Kokietgym, winning every round on all scorecards and dropping his opponent twice before finally stopping him in the 11th round.
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However, the young challenger Naoya Inoue put Narvaez down within a minute of the first round.
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Naoya Inoue then proceeded to hurt Narvaez over and over with carefully placed body shots.
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Naoya Inoue knocked out the long time champion in the second round to capture his second world title.
18.
Naoya Inoue suffered an injury with the punch that put Narvaez down the first time.
19.
The winner would have the right face Naoya Inoue following his comeback.
20.
Naoya Inoue was unable to get a quick finish, but he unleashed a flurry of punches in the 10th round which led to Kokietgym being counted out.
21.
Kono was dropped once by a left hook from Naoya Inoue before being stopped in the sixth round.
22.
Gonzalez stipulated that the terms offered for an Naoya Inoue fight weren't good enough, as Naoya Inoue was mostly unknown in North America.
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Rodriguez proved to be yet another outmatched opponent, as Naoya Inoue comfortably won by stopping him in the 3rd round following a flurry of punches.
24.
Naoya Inoue's next fight would be against Antonio Nieves instead.
25.
Nieves was rocked towards the end of round 2, but Naoya Inoue was unable to finish him as he headed back to his corner when he mistook the 10-second warning with the bell.
26.
Naoya Inoue scored a knockdown in round 5 after a left hook to the body.
27.
Nieves retired after round 6, when Naoya Inoue repeatedly landed that left hook to the body to no response from Nieves.
28.
Naoya Inoue landed 118 of 407 punches to Nieves' 45 of 209.
29.
Naoya Inoue stated that he would move to bantamweight in the future but he would seek to unify titles against another junior bantamweight titleholder in December 2017.
30.
Ancajas' manager had previously said that negotiations with Naoya Inoue had not taken place.
31.
Naoya Inoue said he planned to box in the United States again within 2 months after fighting Boyeaux.
32.
Naoya Inoue dropped Boyeaux four times before referee Raul Caiz Jr.
33.
Naoya Inoue stated that he had plans to move up to bantamweight, where he would seek to become a three-weight world champion.
34.
On 6 March, Naoya Inoue held a press conference in Japan announcing the fight against McDonnell at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan on 25 May 2018.
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Naoya Inoue bravely got up, only to be sent back down after a series of brutal punches by Inoue including another clean left hook which seemed to discombobulate McDonnell's senses.
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Naoya Inoue connected with a jab before blasting Payano with a perfect straight right hand that put Payano flat on his back and unable to continue.
37.
Naoya Inoue faced four-weight world champion, Nonito Donaire, on 7 November 2019, in Saitama, Japan, for the World Boxing Super Series final.
38.
Naoya Inoue was presented the Muhammad Ali Trophy by Fighting Harada.
39.
Naoya Inoue was supposed to face WBO bantamweight titlist John Riel Casimero on 25 April 2020 before that fight was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
40.
Naoya Inoue faced his IBF mandatory challenger Michael Dasmarinas on 19 June 2021 in Paradise, Nevada.
41.
Naoya Inoue scored three knockdowns in the span of three rounds, each one with a left hook to the body of Dasmarinas, to win via third-round stoppage.
42.
Naoya Inoue entered the bout as a -3000 favorite to retain his titles.
43.
Naoya Inoue knocked Dipaen down with a left hook in the eight round, and although Dipaen was able to beat the ten count, he was badly staggered by a second left hook as soon as the action resumed, which prompted referee Michiaki Someya to wave the fight off.
44.
Naoya Inoue earned a guaranteed purse of $500,000; $300,000 in show money and a $200,000 win bonus.
45.
Naoya Inoue's reported fight purse did not include sponsorship payments.
46.
Naoya Inoue was later named the 2021 "Fighter of the Year" by the Japanese Boxing Commission.
47.
Naoya Inoue made his fourth title defense as a unified bantamweight champion in a title unification bout with the reigning WBC champion Nonito Donaire on 7 June 2022, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
48.
Naoya Inoue opened as the favorite, with most odds-makers having him as a -400 favorite to win the rematch.
49.
Naoya Inoue became Japan's first-ever three-belt titleholder in boxing history.
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Naoya Inoue was briefly ranked as the number one pound for pound boxer by The Ring after this victory, thus becoming the first Japanese boxer to reach that milestone.
51.
Naoya Inoue won the fight by an eleventh-round technical knockout, as he stopped Butler with repeated body shots at the 1:09 minute mark of the round.
52.
Naoya Inoue vacated all five titles on January 13,2023, as he moved up to super bantamweight.
53.
On 18 January 2023, it was revealed that Naoya Inoue had entered into negotiations with the unified super bantamweight world champion Stephen Fulton.