Yeah I'd say so, guys like Inoue, Crawford etc may be as good but skill wise Loma is on another level. He's the best pure boxer in the game at the moment.
Hard to tell when he seems to be ducking his best opposition with excuses like, who have they fought, they don't have belts, and they aren't mandatories, now that he has some quality young guns in Haney, and Lopez, who would both be his toughest opponent to date. He'd rather fight the Crolla's and Campbell's.
If Loma ever grows a pair and accepts Teo Lopez challenge he'll take a severe beating and many will wonder how he fooled so many after getting undressed by a very old salido. Loma only fights second rate fighters unless they're half his size like 90% of his opponents. Look at his IN RING WEIGHTS dude could really be fighting at ww
Crawford probably is a tad bit more skilled than Inoue. I think Inoue is a really good fighter. But I think people are distracted by how good of a puncher he is. Best puncher in boxing hands down. As far as power, timing, accuracy and punch selection go. But there is more to boxing than than just punching. How is his footwork? can he go 12 rounds hard? What's his ring IQ? What's his defense like? So I would give the edge to Crawford because hes done it longer and showed a little more versatility. Crawford is probably the most versatile fighter in the sport.
That's my only gripe about inoue so far. Can't really know whats he truly capable of against elite competition if his opponents won't even last rd 3.
I know Donaire is ancient in boxing years. But what if Inoue has trouble finding the mark early against Donaire and then Donaire starts going into his bag of tricks like a veteran? The fight could get a lot more interesting than people think.
Nobody else today blends a high volume, attacking offense with that level of defense the way Loma does. Its hard to truly appreciate how hard it is to balance those two dynamics. Elite defense is hard enough at the world level, but those fighters tend to be snipers or low volume pot shot artists. The common criticism with almost all of them is that they never throw enough or that they run too much. I've never seen a defensive fighter as good as Loma as willing to engage offensively as Loma, and I've seen all the defensive wizards there's film on that I can. He's his own fighter, but the closest hybrid comparison I can come up with is a mutant combination of Calzaghe & Sweet Pea
Good ones pointing out Calzaghe and Whitaker. Also, Pacquiao had underrated defense considering his output. You would think that since he would square up his shoulders and launch 1000 power shots a night that guys would just be teeing off on him. He was a lot a harder to hit than people realize.
He's definitely can but there's more to boxing skill than just fighting at different ranges, that's largely dictated by physicality, Rigo pretty much fought exclusively from the outside but he was still bar Floyd (maybe including) the most skilled fighter at the time.