Revisiting Naoya Inoue’s destruction of Omar Narvaez in 2014

Naoya Inoue has enjoyed a memorable 2025, successfully defending his undisputed super bantamweight title four times, with wins against Ye Joon Kim, Ramon Cardenas, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, and, most recently, against Alan David Picasso.

On December 30, 2014, the Monster destroyed Omar Narvaez to win the WBO super flyweight title. We take you back to the night the Monster moved up two weight classes and destroyed Narvaez by second-round knockout.

Naoya Inoue moves up two weight classes to face Omar Narvaez

Inoue destroys Narvaez in two rounds

The Monster was 21 years old when he faced Narvaez. The Argentine had been the WBO champion for 12 years, but was no match for the power of Naoya Inoue, who stepped up from light flyweight to face the long-reigning champion.

Inoue started fast and quickly let Narvaez feel his power, scoring three knockdowns, which left the champion on the brink of losing his title. Inoue was in just his eighth fight, but he showcased a brutal display of power, which was never more evident when he landed a brutal left-hand body shot in the second round, scoring his fourth knockdown that left Narvaez on his knees, unable to beat the count.

This was Inoue’s second world title in just his eighth fight, and felt like the beginning of this wonderful career that has seen the Japanese star climb to the highest points in boxing. Destroying Narvaez was even more impressive because the tough Argentine had never been knocked down, let alone stopped, in his career.

Following the win over Narvaez, Inoue (8-0, 7 KOs) spoke about the winning punch and his gratitude for the opportunity to face Narvaez:

“I have practised the body punch, and I thought I could bring him down if I could find opportunities to use it,” Inoue said.

“I appreciate this opportunity to fight the super champion (Narvaez) in Japan.”

What came next for Naoya Inoue

The win over Narvaez felt like just the beginning for the Japanese star. Impressive defences of his WBO super flyweight title followed, against Yoan Boyeaux and Ricardo Rodriguez, among others. 

Inoue soon ruled the roost at Bantamweight, beating talented fighters such as Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jason Moloney, and Nonito Donaire in their rematch, before defeating Paul Butler to become the undisputed bantamweight champion and transitioning to super bantamweight to begin his current reign of domination.