Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Kakharovich Akhmadaliev & Yoshiki Takei vs. Christian Medina Jimenez RBR.

I enjoyed it because I like Inoue, and it was an impressive performance due to how dominant he was. But I dont think I will ever watch it again from bell to bell.

 

That's only because it didn't end by knockout.
I just appreciate the fact that we finally see Inoue focusing primarily on outboxing his opponents rather than just going for the kill like he usually does. It's a reminder that Inoue is hard to box against and can be hard to hit when he chooses to be.

 

He can't keep gettin away with this?

 

I remember when Eddie Hearn was so vocal about Inoue ducking MJ and kept saying that his fighter would be the man to beat him. Hearn has been quiet since.

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In the post fight interviews in Japanese he apparently said that it was hard not to go for the KO & to stick his team's game plan

Also pre-fight he announced that this time he won't try for a KO

Not sure of the exact reasons but I think he wanted to prove a point that he could outbox if he so chose & avoid any unnecessary risks, it might also be a test run of how he might want to deal with some of the dangerous bigger punchers at 126 like Espinoza

Still wish he tried for the KO though

Someone on twitter said his dad kept telling him not to deviate from the game plan after mid-rounds

 

He is ageing tho, so its a smart change. Also, lets not forget that he has been knocked down in 2 of his fights at 122.

 

Summary by me.

Inoue revealed that he watched Crawford vs Canelo before his fight.

"The way Crawford fought was helpful for me."

"He fought carefully until the end against Canelo coming in with sloppy offense. Seeing that before my fight, some things overlapped with what I had envisioned for my fight. He was doing what I wanted to do, so that became a good reference."

When asked about Crawford possibly retaking the P4P throne,

"It's difficult, isn't it? At this point, I'm fine with any place inside the top 3."

Inoue also talked how difficult not going for the KO was for him.

"It's in my blood that I want to fight and KO the opponent, and it's not easy to suppress those feelings. I was able to do it in this fight, but I had to be really conscious about how hard I should put the brakes on."

When it came to fans expecting the KO,

"This time I didn't think about giving the fans a KO at all. I was focused on racking up points and getting the decision."

Inoue was also asked whether there were moments where he thought he could KO the opponent,

"There were quite a lot of moments where I thought if I pushed a little harder, I could get the KO."

"Then again, my opponent was a formidable fighter, so I knew that he was waiting for those moments."

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Its great to hear that he used Crawford's performance against Canelo as a reference to help fight a more controlled fight. Inoue trying his best to hold his urge from going for the KO tells you everything about who he is: A natural killer in the ring. But it's good that he knows when to pump the brakes on his usual aggressive and KO happy mindset. If he keeps fighting like this at the higher weights he's going to have a much longer lasting career for sure.

 

The angle, quality, and lack of commentators makes the fight worth rewatching in this video IMO. Not the most exciting Inoue fight but there’s still so much to appreciate with this performance.

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R9 is worth a rewatch. That counter right uppercut off the ropes was lovely. Inoue, like Crawford, has great vision.