WBSS: Naoya Inoue vs. Emmanuel Rodriguez Vazquez & Josh Taylor vs. Ivan Baranchyk RBR.

Inoue by UD.

 

Taylor ud
inoue tko 4

 

Usually I'd favor Taylor, but I didn't like the way he looked at the weigh in...give me Baranchyk in 10 for the upset and Inoue on points.

 

Is there an undercard fight before Inoue-Rodriguez???

 

What kind of a question is that...? Or do you mean televised?

 

LOL, yes. TELEVISED. Like is Inoue-Rodriguez starting in 13 minutes? Or the televised undercards?

 

The WBSS youtube channel will go live in like 20 minutes.
It obviously won't be Inoue-Rodriguez but the undercard fights first.

 

How long has it been since Inoue faced any real adversity in the ring? Kono took round, maybe...? I think, going before that you'd have to go back to his fight with Taguchi, wouldn't you?

The reason why I say that is that I think Rodriguez has the ability to give Inoue a lot of difficulty. He boxes well, throws very fluid and quick combinations and defends well. Plus, when Maloney (who's quite solid) staged a late rally, Emmauel didn't wilt and fired back effectively enough to hold him off and earn the win on my card.

Inoue has the look of being transcendent, but I wonder how he'll react at this point when a fighter manages to bag a couple of round ofs in succession or doesn't go away when he lands the heavy artillery.

Because Naoya looks to be transcendent, I'm holding off on picking the upset. But I'm thinking this goes a while, and wouldn't be at all surprised if this turns out to be his most difficult fight to date. I wouldn't even be that shocked if E-Rod does find a way to spring the upset, because he passes the eye test pretty well in his own right.

 

Inoue by ko

 

Lee McGregor vs. Brett Fidoe 6 rounds @ Super Bantamweight

 

David Carmona. Inoue badly hurt his right hand in the 4th or 5th and essentially fought the rest of the fight handicapped.

I think the question you need to ask yourself is what will Rodriguez do when he's faced w/ someone like Inoue who can hurt you w/ literally any kind of punch that he throws, can box, can counterpunch, can go to war, and has a genuine mean streak inside the ropes.

It's Rodriguez who has to prove what kind of fighter he is.

 

Round 1: 10-9 McGregor

Fidoe late replacement but decent journeyman with 50 losses and only 1 stoppage loss. But McGregor looks very big in here. He's pressuring Fidoe with his size and lands sharp and hard shots but Fidoe looks comfortable with the power shots he's eating. Fidoe fighting back with some big single shots and covering up with a high guard, he's doing well for a late replacement.