Inoue, Fighter of the Year in Japan  – World Boxing Association

The Japan Boxing Commission held its annual ceremony to award the best of this country during 2022 and among the awards stood out Naoya Inoue, as the Fighter of the Year.

Other awards were also presented at the ceremony, including the Ryota Murata-Gennady Golovkin fight as the best of the year, as well as Mizuki Hiruta as fighter of the year and Kenshiro Teraji as best technique. 

Inoue had a great 2022 when he defeated Nonito Donaire with a spectacular knockout in June and then defeated Paul Butler in December to become undisputed bantamweight champion, and at the beginning of 2023, he announced that he will move up in class and vacate his belts. 

Murata and Golovkin had a great fight in Saitama during April, which ended in a technical knockout in favor of the Kazakh but had 9 rounds of full emotion and lots of action.

Kenshiro also had a great year when he won the WBA junior flyweight belt with a win over Hiroto Kyoguchi in November, while Hiruta became WBO super flyweight champion in 2022.