Can Naoya Inoue surpass Bud?

For sure. He's already beaten him in several categories.

More years at the top as champion/longevity.
Far better title fight record.
More wins over ranked opposition and just superior overall depth.

Crawford just has better top wins in Spence and Canelo over Nakatani and Donaire, but it's still somewhat close. Plus the whole 5 division title holder and 3 division undisputed thing.

Only thing Inoue needs is another major win. If he fights and beats Bam he's probably over Bud. Add him getting a belt at Featherweight and it's barely a debate anymore.

If he goes the extra mile of becoming unified or even undisputed at 126, beating a ****ing 6'1 Featherweight like Espinoza, then he's the clearly the best of the post MayPac era and it's not particularly close. He'd be closer to Mayweather and Pac themselves than Usyk and Bud would be to him.

 

Many think he already has or is at least on equal footing with him.

Also, I think Usyk is the greatest of the era.

 

Usyk prob the greatest of all time mate, forget era

 

But are those versions of Spence and Canelo better than the Nakatani and Donaire that Inoue defeated

 

It's a hard question, Nakatani hasn't proven his ceiling to even be within the stratosphere of Canelo's (Spence is more debatable), but Junto was probably prime, Spence and Canelo were both clearly far removed from their best.

 

He's already at crawfords level so unless someone beats him soon then he clears Bud

 

why not? bud retired while inuoe was still in his prime. it would be good to see a thread about this in the classic section about 10 years from now

 

Hard to say. If he manages to beat Bam, and then goes on to grab a title at 126, let alone defeat a towering beast like Espinoza and then becomes 3x undisputed there's no doubt about it that he's surpassed Bud and Usyk IMO. It's a tough road for Inoue to pull off but a guy as talented and skilled as him could make it possible. Just a matter of how he looks against Bam assuming he fights him next.

 

pretty much my take.

 

Inoue doesnt necessarily have to become undisputed at 126 which would be almost impossible given his age and there being 4 different champs. Nonetheless, unifying 2 or 3 belts goes a long way.

 

He doesn't have time to become undisputed. These loser "champs" arent even fighting each other. Now, if they would fight each other and unify, Inoue would have a chance.

 

That's honestly the frustrating thing about 126 right now. Some good names and title holders at that weight class but it feels stagnant with no interesting match up in talks right now. The last interesting fight was when Brandon Figueroa stopped Nick Ball back in February but since then nothing else has happened. I want to see Espinoza, Figueroa, Carrington, and Leo unify the bels and face off against each other instead of waiting around.

 

Crawford's resume is terrible. Car crash Spence and shot Canelo who should have had 3-4 more losses in his prime than his record shows. We never got to see the best of Crawford and a lot of it was his own doing.