The fight was quite competitive, while Usyk has had competitive fights against much bigger opponents like Joshua and Fury it’s the quality + moving up in weight that gets him ATG status. The argument for Inoue being p4p best is how dominant he looked. If he Fulton’d Junto I would have conceded #1 status to him, but it Junto never got the cut things could have gone differently on the Judges card. I had Inoue winning 8-4 excellent win but not dominant. I also think Espinoza beats Inoue based off that performance, not because he’s close to as skilled but he’s just way too big. I want to give Inoue p4p #1 because him and Tank are my favorite fighters but I also see some slippage from him. Usyk reigns king.
I was threatened by Usyk back then but he’s proven himself too much. What Usyk has done is equivalent of going up to 126 and beating Espinoza.
The talent pool is higher in the lower weightclasses. Most of the Heavyweights now are not stand out fighters outside of Usyk and maybe Itauma but he still has to prove himself. Junto was a top 10 P4P fighter and a 3 weight division champion. Inoue has 28 world title wins compared to 13 for Usyk. And now he has a stand out win over a top 10 P4P fighter. The more active impressive fighter in recent times who's not fighting a kickboxer is worthy of being P4P number 1.
I think the lower weight classes and heavyweights have similar depth. Majority of men are naturally in the 150-180 lb range (assuming they have good diets) so the talent pool will always be much higher in those divisions.
This is beautiful, man. I'm welling up here. Do you guys have any idea how much courage and strength it takes for a man to admit something like this on a public forum? That's a real man right there. Bravo! I'd argue it's more like Inoue moving up to 154 and beating Super Boots
Dude has a "Tank" profile and passing judgement on Inoue, who started at Light flyweight, 108lbs, and has been a champ - ducking nobody and achieveing undisputed - in two weight classes, while Tank gets a gift decision (shouldve been draw) against Pitbull and an even greater gift draw against 30:1 underdog Roach. Inoue is among the best. Every fighter has tough outs even if theyre much better overall. Floyd lost to JLC, borderline drew with Marcos freaking Maidana, and struggled to separate from old DLH. Bud struggled to separate from Madrimov (shouldve been a draw imho). Manny was far better than JMM but every time they fought it seemed JMM was destined to blind Margarito and humble Mosley, but that never happened. Could go on and on, but the point is every fighter has tough outs. Usually just a styles thing and sometimes a timing thing. If Inoue achieves undisputed at 126...God damn...very small company. FWIW, I dont think Inoue can go a third division undisputed, not at his age.
I still think Usyk has a great case for p4p #1 but it isn't the equivalent of Inoue beating Super Boots. Its virtually impossible to think of any examples of a natural bantamweight beating an elite junior middle. There are plenty of examples of smaller heavies overcoming bigger ones, Holyfield-Bowe 2, Dempsey-Willard, Louis-Baer 2, Hunter-Bakole, Haye-Chisora etc. Usyk is exceptional but he isn't a tiny man himself. The law of diminishing returns applies when guys get to be over 200 lbs.
It's also worth mentioning someone like Fury isn't 270 pounds of wall to wall muscle. He's got love handles and is like 40 pounds overweight. It's not the same as fighting Ennis who walks around as a Light Heavyweight and who Is also in tip top shape at 154 with not an ounce of fat on him.
Usyk is fighting a kickboxer. Inoue just fought one of the top 5 boxers on the planet. He's cleaned out his division far better than Usyk has and has actually been fighting young, fresh contenders and champions. Inoue is the P4P no. 1 by a clear distance now.
Usyk just fought Dubois and Fury? Yes Junto was a great win but before that who did he beat? Picasso the painter? Literally never heard of the guy before talks of him fighting Inoue.
Outside of Ellerbe consistently being the worst poster on this site, I do agree that Usyk is undisputed p4p #1.
Usyks heavyweight opponents have struggled with much smaller opponents while that's not true with guys in the smaller divisions. So that seems like a silly argument
Usyk fought Dubois nearly a year ago and last beat Fury a year and a half ago. Two wins over guys he's already beaten. Within that time-frame, Inoue has beaten the P4P ranked 3-weight world champion Nakatani, beat the top 5 contender Alan Picasso, the former unified world champion and amateur standout Akhmadaliev, top 10 contender Ramon Cardenas, and fringe contender Ye Joon Kim. Inoue has fought 5 unique opponents in the time Usyk has taken to fight 2 rematches of fights he clearly won. Cardenas and Picasso are both young contenders and likely to take over the 122 division when Inoue moves up, while Akhmadaliev was the most accomplished fighter at the weight who Inoue hadn't yet fought and Inoue shut him out with ease. He has solidified his place as the champion of his division by beating every possible contender, both the old guard and the future of the division. While Usyk is fighting kickboxers and avoiding Kabayel and Wardley.