“There are very few monsters who warrant the fear that we have of them.” -French author André Gide.
Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KO) stands at 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 122 pounds- though his nickname “The Monster” gives away the ferocity of his punching power. Inoue is the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world in the eyes of many observers and is the golden goose of the lower weight classes.
Earlier this week, Inoue defeated TJ Doheny via technical knockout in the 7th round in Tokyo, Japan, when Doheny could not continue after taking a body shot. The fight lasted longer than many speculated, but Inoue showed off some improved defensive skills against the crafty veteran Doheny.
Inoue defended his undisputed super bantamweight championship; he is the only undisputed 122-pound champion in the history of boxing. He is also the first Japanese boxer to be rated #1 pound-for-pound by Ring Magazine (first published in 1922). How did Naoya Inoue become the most feared boxer in the world?
Inoue had an impressive amateur record of 75-6 (48 KO), and his first professional fight was on October 2nd, 2012. It did not take long for Inoue to reach the pinnacle of boxing. At age twenty, Inoue became the light flyweight (108-pound limit) champion in his sixth pro fight in April 2014. Later that year, Inoue moved to the 112-pound weight class to challenge Omar Narváez for his junior bantamweight title. Narváez had been champion for fourteen years and had successfully defended his title twenty-seven times. Inoue knocked Narváez down twice in the first sixty-one seconds of the fight and ended it inside two rounds. With the win, Inoue became a two-division champion eight fights into his career.
Inoue defeated Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire by decision in 2019’s Fight of the Year, despite suffering a fractured orbital bone in the second round plus a broken nose. For good measure, he won a 2022 rematch with Donaire by knockout in two rounds.
After defeating Donaire for the second time, Inoue knocked out Paul Butler in the 11th round to become the undisputed bantamweight champion. The Monster became the first man to unify all the 118-pound titles since Enrique Pinder in 1972.
Against Luis Nery, in his last fight before defeating Doheny, Inoue suffered his first career knockdown in the first round. However, he did knock Nery down three times en route to a sixth-round victory.
For viewers in the United States, Inoue and Doheny heard the bell ring to start round one at 7:34 A.M. Eastern Time. Inoue has fought outside of Japan just four times in his professional career. In September 2017, he defended his super flyweight championship against Antonio Nieves in Carson, California. Then, in May 2019, for a semifinal matchup in the World Boxing Super Series Bantamweight Tournament, Inoue traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, and knocked out Emmanuel Rodriguez in two rounds in which Inoue also captured the Ring Magazine World Bantamweight Title.
After signing with Top Rank Promotions, Inoue fought two consecutive times in Las Vegas. He knocked out Jason Molony in October 2020 and Michael Dasmarinas in June 2021. These two fights lacked the traditional Vegas atmosphere since they took place during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Inoue has reached a point where he does not need to fight outside Japan. There is no financial incentive with the fight purses and revenue from the live gates in Japan. And as the recognized best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, any top challenger will come to Japan.
However, after Inoue defeated Doheny, Bob Arum said Inoue would have a traditional end-of-the-year fight in Japan before fighting in the United States in 2025. Inoue has indicated that he would like to have a few more fights at super-bantamweight before a potential move up to the 126-pound weight limit of the lightweight division. That would give The Monster time to acclimate to being at 122 pounds. Given that Inoue became the undisputed champion at 122 pounds just 377 days after unifying the 118-pound division, it is understandable. The Monster is still human, after all.
There has been some online chatter about Naoya Inoue potentially facing lightweight champion Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KO). Both men stand at five feet, five inches tall, and have knockout power. But for Inoue, who started in the 108-pound weight division, to come up from super bantamweight to lightweight is insane. Asking Inoue to move from the super bantamweight division, over featherweight, over junior lightweight, and up to the 135-pound weight class to fight a man as dangerous as Gervonta Davis only makes sense in a video game. Some fans have referred to Gervonta Davis as a weight bully; if Inoue-Davis ever takes place, Gervonta would become a weight authoritarian.
A fight with bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (28-0, 21 KO) could be on the horizon for Inoue. Inoue vs. Nakatani would pit the two best boxers in Japan against each other. A fight in the Tokyo Dome could see at least 50,000 spectators and would be a massive event.
If Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KO), current junior bantamweight (115-pound) division champion, and Naoya Inoue faced each other, it would be an incredible fight. Rodriguez and Inoue are two old-school fighters who care about their legacies and what boxing fans want to see rather than cherry-picking safe opponents. An Inoue-Rodriguez fight at a 118 or 118.5-pound catchweight would be a barnburner, the biggest fight possible at the lower weight classes.
What comes next for “The Monster” Naoya Inoue remains to be seen. We can only hope Inoue faces top opponents as he continues to dominate the lower-weight classes. Boxing fans will hope to get a glimpse of The Monster in the United States.
Monsters are not real, but unfortunately, for boxers campaigning at the lower weight classes, Nayoa Inoue very much is.
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