Naoya Inoue, a modern-day great
- Made the division popular:- Bantamweight division has not been a fan-favourite division in the past. Any weight class is as popular as its stars in it and there has not been a global star who has transcended sport from the bantamweight division. Weight classes like featherweights, super featherweights, welterweights, middleweights, heavyweights, and lightweights always had superstars, all-time classic rivalries/matchups leading to extreme popularity. Also, higher weight classes mean more lethal and destructive punchers which is what makes higher weight classes more interesting and garner so much attention from fans. This narrative somewhat changed when Donaire was fighting in the division, he certainly brought attention to the division. Then Inoue entered and took it to next level. One of the knocks on lower division like Bantamweight is that there are no big/lethal punchers. Well, that thought completely goes out of the window since Inoue stepped into the Bantamweight division. The guy is known as “The Monster” for a reason.
- Offensive genius:- There are 3 fights I would recommend for all the boxing fans to watch and understand how offensive genius of a guy Inoue is.
- Fight against Moloney:- Inoue was throwing left & right uppercuts for fun in that fight. It was textbook the way he was throwing those uppercuts with such timing and precision that it did damage every time it landed. Then that short right hand with which he dropped Moloney and couldn’t beat the count. The fact that he can generate so much power with that short right hand is why we love this sport and call boxing sweet science. His short right-hand technique with which he was able to generate so much power against Moloney with such precision should be studied by young fighters.
- Fight against Dasmarinas:- This is one instance where I am glad I am not a boxer. The way Inoue threw left hooks to the body on so many occasions felt like he misunderstood the game plan, he was landing left hooks to the body as if he was throwing a jab. Consistent body attack with so much precision and all thrown with mean intention and the effects it had on Dasmarinas face were evident and clearly couldn’t take it anymore and the fight was eventually stopped. In recent times if you have to compare Inoue with fighters who had a similar technique of throwing left hooks and doing similar damage, only 2 names come to my mind, GGG and Canelo with GGG doing similar damage to those liver’s the way Inoue does. Good luck surviving that liver shot from Inoue once, even if you survive once good luck surviving a bunch of those. His technique of throwing left hooks is picture-perfect and should be studied by younger fighters.
- Fight against Donaire:- Inoue-Donaire 1 was a legacy-defining fight for Inoue and earned him respect and praise not only from Donaire but also from boxing fans around the world. The toughest test of Inoue’s career to date, he suffered adversity in this fight like he has never suffered, got his eye socket broken in 2nd round, fought the rest of the fight with 1 eye, dropped Donaire with a monstrous left hook to the body in 11th and won the fight comfortably at the end. This is learning to all young fighters, no matter how great you are, you are always going to get your match at some point, and skills alone won’t make you great unless you have that dog in you to overcome adversity and Inoue displayed both that night. Inoue was great that night and massive credit to Donaire for giving Inoue his toughest test despite not being at his peak, shows the greatness of Donaire as well.
- Inoue doesn’t have a single signature punch in fact he has a bunch of those which is what makes him an offensive genius.
- Is Inoue underrated? The bantamweight division saw its first undisputed champion in 50 years in Inoue. He became the first fighter from Japan to win all 4 belts(undisputed) in the same weight class. Ring Magazine had Inoue as P4P king in 2022 making him the first Japanese national to ever achieve that accolade.
- Despite all these accolades, the fighter of this class doesn’t have star power like Pacquiao or Canelo. Pacquiao and Canelo are non-American fighters who have reached superstar status in the sport. Even Inoue is a non-American fighter but unlike Pacquiao and Canelo, he has not been able to replicate that stardom. So what has gone wrong for Inoue in terms of popularity? Pacquiao and Canelo fought the majority of their fights in the United States which contributes significantly to their popularity. On the other hand, Inoue has fought 20 of his 24 fights in Japan which isolates him from the majority of the audience/fanbase in the United States.
- Another reason for his lesser reach globally is that lower weight classes have not offered the kind of competition Inoue would have liked. Great fights are needed in your career to elevate legacies and help you build that stardom which was evident in Pacquiao and Canelo’s careers, they met their match on multiple occasions which ended up as classic fights. Inoue on the other hand has pretty much steamrolled against the competition faced so far. The only fight where he found his match was against Donaire for the 1st fight which elevated Inoue’s stardom and brought the best out of Inoue. Inoue will need a few more of those matchups to achieve stardom like Pacquiao and Canelo.
- Probably this is also one of the reasons why Inoue is moving up. He has no real test left at bantamweight. In his next fight, he is moving up in weight class and challenging WBC and WBO junior featherweight champion Fulton. Irrespective of his stardom and him not being a massive PPV star, if Inoue ends up beating Fulton which would be some task and becomes a unified junior featherweight champion. He has already cemented his legacy as a modern-day great. it’s time we start having conversations about Inoue as an all-time great and where would we rank him amongst all-time greats.
Let's Talk Boxing 
Leave a comment