Is He The P-4-P Best Today? Can He Unify The 122 Pound Division?
I don’t know about you, fellow fight fans, but I’m still buzzing due to what I was privileged to have seen yesterday in Tokyo, Japan (not there on the spot, but via Sky Sports here in the UK). Naoya Inoue was masterful, he was magnificently good, he was sensational in wiping out the more than capable Stephen Fulton inside eight rounds.
What was looked at by plenty of folks as a competitive fight, maybe even “Monster” Inoue’s career-toughest fight to date (note: of the 21 experts who gave some of their time to RingTV.com as far as the fight picks poll, most were picking Inoue, yes, but via decision, not by KO) instead turned into a one-man show of the highest order. Inoue, who was as we know moving up to a fourth weight class and was doing so without opting to take any tune-up fight first, Inoue instead going in with a two-belt champ, took everything from Fulton, this as he gave Fulton everything he has in his scarily formidable arsenal.
Inoue was the faster man, he was the more powerful man, his wicked punching power travelling up with him from 118 pounds. Inoue was the more intelligent fighter, he won the battle of the jabs (this, going in, seen as one of Fulton’s best chances of winning the fight), and Inoue was as cool and as calm as he has ever been. In short, Inoue took our breath away.
The questions are now coming thick and fast.
Where do we start?
How about this – is Inoue, 25-0(22) the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet right now? You’re darn right he is! Never mind what happens in Saturday night in Las Vegas, when Terence Crawford (for plenty of people the current P-4-P best today) and Errol Spence get it on, Inoue HAS to be ranked as the top dog in the mythical rankings we all pay so much attention to. Inoue, in just 25 fights, spread across four weight divisions, is the epitome of what pound-for-pound best means. The honour is Inoue’s, no doubt. Point to one single weakness Inoue has as a fighter, I dare you!
Another question – how high can Inoue go? At a perhaps generously listed 5’6”, Inoue may push his luck if he goes up too far in terms of higher divisions. Having started his championship run down at a lowly 108 pounds, Inoue showed us yesterday how he is now comfortable at 122 pounds. And, as much as Inoue carried his power up with him to super-bantam, we know he doesn’t have to rely on his power to get the win. Inoue, perhaps more importantly than carrying his power up with him, carried his speed also. As such, Inoue, even if he cannot take out a featherweight, a super-featherweight, or even a lightweight, may well have the sheer ability to outbox his man at these higher weights.
It is possible Inoue could become a five-weight world champion, maybe even a six or a seven! Wow. Inoue is that good he is making us think this way.
Can Inoue unify all four belts at 122?
It’s already looking extremely likely that Inoue’s next fight will be against Marlon Tapales, the man who holds the other two belts at super-bantam. Tapales was there in Tokyo yesterday and the two men met in the middle of the ring after the fight, the duo seemingly agreeing on fighting each other next. Assuming no crazy demands are made by Team-Tapales, this fight could happen as soon as November. Let’s ask the obvious: has Tapales of the Philippines got any shot at scoring the upset over “The Monster?”
Tapales wants the fight; he asked for it both before and after witnessing Inoue’s destruction of Fulton. Currently 37-3(19), the 31 year old southpaw is coming off his big win over Murodjon Akhmadaliev, against whom he won the WBA and IBF 122 pound belts, this in April. Tapales is tough, he is aggressive, and he is exciting, yet he has been stopped two times (by lesser punchers than Inoue).
Chances are big, you could say overwhelming that Tapales gets stopped for a third time if he does fight Inoue this year.
To my mind, there are only two ways Inoue loses the way he’s going: either age catches up with him, or Inoue does go up too high in weight (crazily, some people are actually beginning to talk about Inoue fighting Tank Davis one day!)
What are YOUR thoughts?
