Nakatani Ball Espinoza Bam Would you say that puts him above? Would he have to do less? More? Donaire x2 Fulton Rodriguez Tapales Murodjon Nery Narvaez Hernandez Moloney Taguchi His resume is good but when we start talking ATG it's weak especially considering a shot Donaire is arguably his best win.
At the moment inoue has an argument. More divisions, more names and a higher win % vs the best guys of his day. Harada of course has the better best wins. At some point the question is more “if someone beats an ATG can someone who didn’t ever surpass them?”
I think so. Harada had more close fights and whereas Inoue in some of his big fights has absolutely dominated
I think he's arguably already above him. Bam is too small, Ball is probably too big. The only fight that truly elevates his ATG status is Nakatani. If he beats Nakatani, I don't think there's any argument at all that he's the best Japanese fighter of all time.
Harada, had an interesting career. He basically lost to all the big names he fought for the first five years of his career. The he went on a fantastic 24 month run, beating Alan Rudkin, Jose Medel, Bernardo Caraballo and twice defeating the great Eder Jofre. He then lost to the rest of the top names he fought over the final two years of his career. While Harada was a fantastic fighter with excellent high end wins, his high end losses already put him behind Naoya Inoue in my book.
I've been more hesitant of saying Inoue's Japan's best ever. The Jofre win, despite it being so close, is huge. Who can say they dethroned the consensus greatest of their division? Still, inoue has dominated for a decade. A Nakatani win would feel like an official claiming of the title.
This has been said about plenty of fighters, wont be the last. You'll change your tune once someone else comes along.
I don't know Harada was really something. I think he will pass him based on achievements and such but both were very talented. I'm a Famechon fan and I still think Harada won that first fight.