Photo Document] Naoya Inoue, World Super Bantamweight Champion of 4 Unified Bantamweight Groups, “Cruel Fists” and “The Real Face of an Angel

　The best shots of a former professional boxer photographer who was fascinated by the rare monster and continued to photograph him for 12 years

2024-02-24

|SPORTS

He is 17 fights, 10 wins, 6 KOs, and 7 losses in his professional career, mainly in the featherweight division, one level above super bantam.
In 1999, after hanging up his gloves, Hiroaki Yamaguchi became a photographer.
Since then, he has faced many boxers through his viewfinder, using his “predictive power,” which is a strength of an experienced fighter.

He first became acquainted with Inoue in 2012, and his initial perception of Inoue was that he was “one of the stronger boxers.
Until I witnessed the spectacular KO that is still burned into my eyelids.

On December 30, 2002, a monster was born,” said photographer Hiroaki Yamaguchi.

I had been photographing Inoue since before his debut, and although he was strong, I didn’t have the impression that he was a “monster. I think he was not suited to the light-fly weight class.

The next fighter to move up two weight classes was Omar Narvaez (48), the WBO super flyweight champion.

December 30, 2014.
vs. Omar Narvaez (WBO super flyweight title match)

‘The moment Narvaez put his gloves on the canvas for the first time and a monster was born. It was the biggest shock in all the years I have been photographing Naoya Inoue.

What I saw through the viewfinder was a shocking sight. Narvaez, who had been called the unbeaten champion, went down early in the first round. A left body blow overwhelmed the proud champion to the point that he lost his will to fight.

Since then, the monster has KO’d his opponents in almost every fight.

Inoue’s power, speed, accuracy, and defense are all at a very high level. And yet, he also has a high boxing IQ. For example, the first fight against Nonito Donaire (41). Inoue suffered a serious injury early in the fight, a fracture of the right orbital floor. He survived a big pinch, in which he had double vision of things and could not grasp the distance, by raising his guard and hiding his right eye. When I asked him about it, he said, “Donaire once got through a crisis of a fracture of the infraorbital floor in the same way. He was using what he could glean from the video footage on the spur of the moment.”

IQ also comes into play here.

He observes his opponent, reads his opponent’s habits, and searches for which attack pattern will be effective, then strikes without hesitation the moment he senses it.

The fusion of talent and hard work is what the cruel fist is all about.

November 7, 2019
vs. Nonito Donaire (WBSS bantamweight tournament final)