Knockout Puncher of the Year – Naoya “The Monster” Inoue

A leading boxing magazine named Naoya Inoue the “Knockout Puncher of the Year” for 2018. Fans of boxing and especially those enamored with knockouts should not be surprised. He would have been our pick too.

Japan’s Inoue arrived on U.S. soil two years ago and with scant build-up a small army of reporters descended on a Southern California gym to see the smaller weight fighter with hands of steel. His reputation as a fierce and determined knockout puncher was the attraction.

That was in 2017, but in 2018, Inoue moved up from super flyweight to bantamweight and blazed through a pair of 118-pounders even easier than in the smaller weight classes that he had previously dominated.

It’s why Inoue has been dubbed “Monster.”

Even as an amateur the slender assassin was determined to render opponents unconscious. It wasn’t enough for the Yokohama fighter to merely win; that was too easy. As an amateur Inoue would ramp up his attack with a blur of combinations that convinced many that when he turned professional he would be a monster.

The experts weren’t wrong.

Since his pro debut in 2012 Inoue has grabbed the light flyweight and super flyweight world titles by knockout. Then, this past May, he met WBA bantamweight titlist Jamie McDonnell of the United Kingdom. The tall Brit had successfully defended the title five times before meeting Inoue at Ota City, Japan. A check left hook by Inoue wobbled the champion then a right cross and left hook combination dropped him in the first round. McDonnell got up but was met with a whirlwind of a dozen blows that sent him down again for good at 1:52 of the first round. Inoue was the new bantamweight champion.

In his first defense of the WBA bantamweight world title Inoue met Dominican southpaw Juan Carlos Payano in Yokohama this past October. Once again the Japanese bullet probed carefully in the opening round, then, with only two blows rendered Payano unconscious. A quick left jab followed by a strafing right cross did the job neatly. Inoue barely broke a sweat at 1:10 of the first round.

Those hands just might be the deadliest in all of boxing.

So far the bantamweights have proven to be a breeze for the Monster. It might already be time for Inoue to move up to the super bantamweights, a super charged division with the likes of champions Danny Roman, Rey Vargas, Emanuel Navarrete and TJ Doheny.

One thing is certain. Inoue has the power to move up to a heavier weight division. It’s the primary reason he was named this year’s Knockout Puncher of the Year.

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