Naoya Inoue

Naoya Inoue is married to his high school sweetheart, whom he married in 2015. The couple have three children, including a son named Akiba, born in 2017, and daughters born in 2019 and 2021. His wife maintains a low public profile.

Inoue's father, Shingo Inoue, is a former amateur boxer who became his trainer and guided his early development. His younger brother, Takuma Inoue, is also a professional boxer, while his older cousin Koki Inoue has pursued a professional boxing career as well.

Inoue began training under his father before he was eight years old. He developed his foundational technique, discipline and work ethic through training at local boxing clubs and competing during elementary and junior high school.

He won the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting and the Japanese Junior National Championships in 2009. In 2010, he earned a bronze medal at the Asian Youth Championships in Tehran and won the Japanese Junior Selection Tournament. He later took gold at the 21st President's Cup in Jakarta in 2011. His amateur record was 75-6, including 48 knockouts.

Inoue made his professional debut in October 2012 and won by fourth-round knockout against Crison Omayao. He captured the Japanese light flyweight title in his fourth professional fight by defeating Ryoichi Taguchi, then won the vacant OPBF light flyweight title against Jerson Mancio.

In his sixth professional bout, Inoue stopped Adrián Hernández in the sixth round to win the WBC light flyweight championship. He later moved up two weight classes and defeated Omar Andrés Narváez by second-round knockout in December 2014 to win the WBO junior bantamweight title. He defended that title seven times before moving to bantamweight.

Inoue won the WBA bantamweight title by stopping Jamie McDonnell in the first round in 2018. He then entered the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament, knocking out Juan Carlos Payano in the quarter-final and Emmanuel Rodríguez in the semi-final. His knockout of Payano was named The Ring's Knockout of the Year for 2018.

In the tournament final, Inoue defeated Nonito Donaire by unanimous decision in a bout that later received The Ring's Fight of the Year award for 2019. Inoue won the Muhammad Ali Trophy and revealed afterward that he had suffered a fractured orbital bone and broken nose during the contest.

He stopped Donaire in their 2022 rematch, then defeated Paul Butler by eleventh-round knockout in December 2022. The victory made him the undisputed bantamweight champion and the first Japanese and Asian boxer to become undisputed in the three- or four-belt era. He vacated the bantamweight titles in January 2023 to move up in weight.

Inoue began his super bantamweight campaign by defeating unified champion Stephen Fulton by eighth-round technical knockout in July 2023. He then faced Marlon Tapales in December 2023 and won by tenth-round knockout, becoming the first undisputed super bantamweight champion and the second male boxer in the four-belt era to become undisputed in two weight classes.

He retained the undisputed titles by stopping Luis Nery in the sixth round at Tokyo Dome in May 2024, despite being knocked down for the first time in his professional career in the opening round. He then stopped TJ Doheny, Kim Ye-joon and Ramon Cardenas before defeating Murodjon Akhmadaliev by unanimous decision in September 2025.

In December 2025, Inoue defeated David Picasso by unanimous decision. He then defeated Junto Nakatani by unanimous decision at Tokyo Dome in May 2026, retaining his undisputed super bantamweight titles. The Nakatani bout was held before a sellout crowd of 55,000 and became the highest-selling Japanese pay-per-view event listed in the record.

Inoue was named The Ring's Fighter of the Year in 2023 and received the same year's Fighter of the Year honors from the Boxing Writers Association of America and ESPN. He also won The Ring's Fight of the Year award for his 2019 bout with Nonito Donaire and its Knockout of the Year award for his 2018 victory over Juan Carlos Payano.

He became the first Japanese boxer ranked number one pound for pound by The Ring in June 2022. His other honors include the Muhammad Ali Trophy, the Sugar Ray Robinson Award and repeated Japan Boxing Commission Fighter of the Year awards.