Naoya Inoue has established himself as one of the greatest modern fighters through sheer dominance and impressive knockout power.
As of March 2025, the Japanese ‘Monster’ has a professional record of 29-0, with 26 of his victories coming by way of knockout.
Making his debut in 2012, Inoue has been nothing but flawless since his introduction to the sport. Among the three men who were able to go the distance with the ‘Monster’, none were able to be competitive on the judge’s scorecards.
A champion in four weight classes, Inoue is also one of the few fighters to be undisputed in the four-belt era, doing it in two divisions.
The Japanese knockout machine’s title reign began in 2014 when he was able to capture a world belt for the first time.
Naoya Inoue won his first world title at just 20 years of age
Still a relatively young boxer at 31 years old, Inoue first won a world title almost 11 years ago.
In 2014, Inoue would be scheduled to take on Adrian Hernandez in Japan for the WBC World Light Flyweight title. Remarkably, this would be just the 6th professional fight for Inoue.
His Mexican opponent Hernandez would be the much more experienced fighter, with a professional record of 29-2-1.
Hernandez would be looking to make his eighth title defense, however, the youngest would have too much to handle for the Mexican.
Despite making his debut just 18 months before the title fight, Inoue would become a world champion for the first time.
Not only was Inoue able to claim the title, but he did it with dominance too. The 20-year-old led the bout for as long as it lasted, winning all five rounds on the judge’s scorecards.
Then, in the sixth round, the Japanese fighter would be able to land a knockout blow. A stringing right hand would land on Hernandez and would put the Mexican down and out in the fight.
Although he was so young at the time of his first world title opportunity, Inoue was able to show the patience and timing he is known for today even with his inexperience.
Naoya Inoue is on a five-year knockout streak
Despite being a champion for over a decade, Inoue has shown no signs of slowing down later in his career.
He is currently on an incredible knockout streak, that extends back to October of 2020.
The last fighter to go to the distance with Inoue was Nonito Donaire, who lost via unanimous decision in November 2019.
Since then, Inoue has been able to finish all who have stepped in front of him, including knocking out Donaire in a rematch.
His knockout streak is currently 10 fights long, as Inoue most recently added to his form with a fourth-round stoppage of Ye Joon Kim who fought on short notice.