I'm looking over Naoya Inoue's resume, and one flaw in his resume is he skipped flyweight and went straight to junior bantamweight. Why didn't he fight at flyweight? He could have easily won a title there.
Inoue's camp said that he will move up the moment he struggles with making weight. Guess he struggled to make weight against Nieves. I honestly believe that Inoue would have blown out the entire division, but I still would like to have seen it.
Agree on blowout, most especially in retrospect. Would love to have seen it too. Smart/wise decision by Camp Inoue btw to avoid potential weight cutting disadvantages.
Pacquiao jumped two weight classes earlier on in his career, going from 112 all the way to 122. Sometimes you're just better off being comfortable at a weight.
Missing flyweight is a good move for Inoue & I can see him going up in weights again after his next fight.
Japan’s ‘Monster’ Naoya Inoue (18-0, 16 KOs) and legendary Filipino-American Nonito ‘The Filipino Flash’ Donaire (40-5, 26 KOs) clash for the 118lb Ali Trophy at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on November 7. Inoue has sent shockwaves throughout boxing and the wider world of sport with his quarter-final and semi-final performances. The ‘Monster’s total fight time in the tournament is incredible 5 minutes and 29 seconds against the likes of Emmanuel Rodriguez and Juan Carlos Payano.
Simply couldn't get a Flyweight world champion in the ring for the date they had booked. He wanted to set a record rather than wait or cancel so skipped it and took the opportunity with Narvaez
He missed the killers at 112 and 115, which sucks. But! They are making up for it with the WBSS tournament. And there is still hope that we will see Inoue vs one of the guys at 115.
The real things for answer to why Inoue didn't fight at 112 lbs (Flyweight) : Because he was 108 lbs WBC World champion and at this times the WBC 112 lbs World champion was Akira Yaegashi from Ohashi Gym of Yokohama, Naoya Inoue never want fight against someone from Ohashi Gym he see Akira Yaegashi like his "old brother". Currently he is still a counselor and a trainer for Naoya Inoue at Ohashi Gym. And one of his best friends too. And for fight for another world belt like WBA or WBO he will lost too much times and have to make some fight at 112 lbs... at this period Naoya Inoue can't not make the weight again in 108 lbs, before his fight with Samartlek Kokietgym for defend his WBC Belt Inoue make a poor's performance and said that it was his most bad performance (he judge himself was slow and not have the power for finished the fight before 6 rounds) against a average challenger in reality we have to admit that the Thai was pretty damn good too. (In fact he explained in interview that before this fight he have a lot of difficulties to make the weight and was at 115 lbs so later he explain that he will move directly at 115 lbs (Super Flyweight) for not loose too much power with the weight cutting ).
