Naoya Inoue

Amateur career

Inoue won the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting and the Japanese Junior National Championships in 2009. In 2010, he took the bronze medal in the Asian Youth Championships in Tehran, Iran, and won the Japanese Junior Selection Tournament. He then participated in the AIBA Youth World Championships, but lost to Yosvany Veitía in the third preliminary round. He finished in the second place at the Japanese National Championships in the same year.

In July 2011, he took the gold medal in the 21st President's Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia. He subsequently won the first place in the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting in that year. However, he was eliminated in the third round by Yosvany Veitía in the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships at the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan, and lost to Birzhan Zhakypov in the final at the 2012 Asian Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan. His amateur record was 75-6 (48 KOs and RSCs).

Light flyweight

Inoue turned professional in 2012. When he registered with the Ohashi Boxing Gym, he signed an agreementh with Ohashi never to fight against easy opponents of his own volition. His past fights and opponents have brought him confidence and courage.

On October 2, 2012, he fought against Filipino champion Crison Omayao, and won his debut via a fourth-round knockout. After this victory, he won two straight victories over Thai champion Ngaoprajan Chuwatana and Japan's number one-ranked boxer Yūki Sano. On August 25, 2013, Inoue captured the Japanese light flyweight title from the WBA's number three-ranked contender, and future WBA light flyweight champion, Ryoichi Taguchi. This was seen as Inoue's toughest test thus far but in the end he dominated and battered Taguchi over ten rounds.

He then took the vacant OPBF light flyweight title on December 6, 2013 on the undercard of Yaegashi vs. Sosa. Earlier that day, his younger brother, Takuma Inoue, made his professional debut with a unanimous decision victory.

WBC champion

Inoue stopped Adrián Hernández to be crowned the WBC light flyweight champion in his sixth professional bout at Ota-City General Gymnasium on April 6, 2014. Hernández was a two-division champion who had previously gone 8-1 in world title bouts, but Inoue dominated the fight from beginning to end. Inoue's sole defense of his light flyweight title came against Samartlek Kokietgym on September 2014. Inoue routed Kokietgym, winning every round on all scorecards and dropping his opponent twice before finally stopping him in the 11th round.

Inoue vs. Narváez

In November 2014, he vacated his light flyweight title in order to challenge WBO Junior Bantamweight Champion Omar Andrés Narváez, the fight was scheduled for December 30, 2014. Narváez was 43-1-2 coming into the bout. His one loss had come by decision to Nonito Donaire in 2011. Narváez had won his first world championship in 2002, making twenty-seven title defenses of his belts since. Inoue arrived at the fight with a 7-0 record. However, the young challenger Inoue put Narváez down within a minute of the first round. He then proceeded to hurt Narváez over and over with carefully placed body shots. Inoue knocked out the long time champion in the second round to capture his second world title.

Various defenses

Inoue suffered an injury with the punch that put Narvaéz down the first time. In response to Inoue being sidelined, the WBO issued an interim title bout between two of its top-ranked contenders, David Carmona and Warlito Parrenas. The winner would have the right face Inoue following his comeback. The fight was ruled a split draw after 12 rounds but Inoue chose to face Parrenas regardless in his comeback bout on December 29, 2015. Parrenas was blown out in a similar manner as Narváez. The referee waved off the fight in the second round, after Parrenas was dropped twice, giving Inoue a TKO victory.

Inoue would then face Carmona on May 2016, suffering another hand injury midway through the fight. Inoue would eventually win a comfortable unanimous decision (118-109, 118-109, 116-111). Nevertheless, Carmona was only the second fighter to go the distance with Inoue, after Ryoichi Taguchi. Inoue's third defense came against Petchbarngborn Kokietgym on September of that same year. 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.

Inoue vs. Kono

On November 9, it was announced that Inoue's fourth defense would come against Kohei Kono in December 30, 2016. Kono was a two-time super flyweight champion who had lost his WBA belt to Luis Concepción in his previous fight. Naoya's brother, Takuma, was slated to challenge for a world title against Marlon Tapales on the same night but he pulled out due to a fractured right hand. Inoue stopped Kono in another commanding performance. Kono was dropped once by a left hook from Inoue before being stopped in the sixth round.

During 2016, Inoue repeatedly sought a unification bout against four-division champion and WBC super flyweight champion Román González. However, González chose to face Carlos Cuadras instead in the second half of the year. González stipulated that the terms offered for an Inoue fight weren't good enough, as Inoue was mostly unknown in North America.

Inoue's fifth defense of his WBO super flyweight title came against Ricardo Rodríguez on May 2017. Rodríguez proved to be yet another outmatched opponent, as Inoue comfortably won by stopping him in the 3rd round following a flurry of punches.

USA debut

Following his easy win over Rodríguez, Inoue joined the HBO Boxing After Dark card "Superfly" set at the StubHub Center on September 9, 2017. The event is headlined by the González-Sor Rungvisai rematch for the WBC super flyweight title. It will also feature a WBC eliminator between Carlos Cuadras and Juan Francisco Estrada, in addition to Inoue's debut in the US and first pro bout abroad. Originally, McJoe Arroyo was slated to be Inoue's challenger but Arroyo wound up fighting Rau'shee Warren in an IBF eliminator instead. Inoue's next defense of his super flyweight title would be against Antonio Nieves instead.

Inoue's sixth defense of his WBO title was succesful, as he hammered Nieves, who threw in the towel after six rounds. Nieves was rocked towards the end of round 2, but Inoue was unable to finish him as he headed back to his corner when he mistook the 10-second warning with the bell. Inoue scored a knockdown in round 5 after a left hook to the body. Nieves retired after round 6, when Inoue repeatedly landed that left hook to the body to no response from Nieves. Inoue landed 118 of 407 punches (29%) to Nieves' 45 of 209 (22%). 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 of 2017.