Naoya Inoue is CLEARLY P4P #1 and an ATG boxer

Inoue is still elite. But, he is definitely starting to slip a bit. He had some wild misses against Nakatani. Luckily for Inoue, there is nobody else decent at the weight except Nakatani.

 

It's still Usyk as far as pound for pound number one.

Usyk, the man who gives up significant height, reach, weight (twenty to fifty pounds) while fighting in his opponents home countries as the promotional B-side and still wins.

 

Inoue just won a clear win over a p4p guy and has been considerably more active over the past sixteen months. Usyk scored a convincing win over Dubois, but he'd already scored a convincing win over him previously. Now he's facing a neophyte. That's not enough to keep Inoue off the throne.

 

Inoue is an ATG, and a legend. But so is Usyk, and Usyk is p4p #1 for me.

 

I will say, he's catching up because how many times has Inoue been the 'away' fighter compared to Usyk?

 

I'm glad it picked up in the last third. When you have these huge showdowns that - as Naoya mentioned pre-fight - bring new eyes to the sport, you hope they aren't duds.

I can imagine that Naoya is on the decline now, ever so slightly. How much of that we can see is another question. Perhaps, more crucially, is that when you're fighting a younger, taller guy who - as Teddy Atlas loves to say - makes you really earn your way in, then you're probably not going to flow as you did against lesser foes. Nakatani did make Naoya work. The wide stance was an attempt to create more space for Naoya to overcome. A larger no-man's land, if you will. On the other side of which were potential bombs. For the most part, it didn't stop Naoya from using his explosive footwork and superb jab to get off and away. That's some kind of speed he still has.

And it was precisely that speed which stopped Nakatani from pushing the issue. 'If only he'd started earlier!' We've already heard it a few times. If only it were as easy to do as it is to say! Nakatani had something of a Lomachenko-Lopez crisis in that he didn't want to give his explosive opponent anything to work off. But start earlier and maybe you don't finish. You only have so much stamina. Fighters know this. He did at least get some hard shots home. Did the head clash really alter the verdict? Probably not, but a good enough slant for a rematch...sometime later, perhaps...

I felt quite comfortable calling Naoya an ATG after the Fulton destruction. Since then - in under three years - he's just about beaten everyone worth mentioning at 122 lbs. How many champions really clean out their divisions, top to bottom? Naoya now has his big win, but, as others have said, different to many other '50-50/historic' wins, Naoya beat a guy who was absolutely in his prime.

No more boxes needed ticking. It's all extra cream from here on out.

 

I still do the 1a/1b thing w Usyk and Inoue. Both are phenomenal

 

I don't think Nakatani lost that fight. I would have made it a draw. Nakatani landed the more consequential blows, imo. As to the #1P4P fighter, I think you have to make it Stevenson. He's not the most entertaining but he is the best at hitting and not getting hit. He made Lopez look like a rank amateur.

 

People really don't know how to think straight when it comes to the weight divisions.

These lower weights have nothing between them. Eat a cheeseburger and you've moved up a weight class. Nevermind that none of those guys are fighting at their natural weights. They're all cutting down to hit their target class. Too many cute little games to be played. Also, the increased number of people you can fight allows you to pick and choose so as to give yourself the best chances at collecting more belts. I'm not giving a guy a ton of extra credit because he went up 4 pounds and found the weakest champ at the next weight class to snatch a belt. Though, to be fair to Inoue he has become Undisputed at two weight classes, which is what he really should be judged on.

Facts are, there are a gang of dudes who have jumped multiple weight classes to snag belts. There's over a dozen of them that have done it in 4 weight classes. Six of them have done it in 5. Pacman obviously showed it could be done in even more than that. The number of guys that have won titles at lower weights and then won at HW is much smaller. And there's only two dudes in history who have done it while being Undisputed. And only one of those guys did it in the 4-belt era while beating multiple belt holders at HW. Oleksandr "Kind Cat" Usyk.

And yes, I completely get the diminishing returns argument with HWs. Fury is fat thus his 60 pound weight advantage isn't actually 60 useful pounds. Sure. Of course AJ and Dubois didn't seem to be carrying around too much extra baggage. They're built like brick shithouses. At any rate, Fury is still 4+ inches taller with 7 extra inches of reach compared to Usyk. For Inoue to fight someone with that big of a discrepancy in physical attributes he'd have to take on Artur Beterbiev. I wonder how that one would go. Oh, and Usyk did all of that at HW when he was already in his mid-30s. This dude's prime was way back in his semi-pro days into his cruiser era. He shmushed the superheavies as an old man. These people need to show Sensei Usyk some gawt-damn respect!

 

Inoue is number 1 p4p over Usyk due to activity and the quality of opposition he’s defeated recently compared to Usyk.

Don’t get me wrong Usyk is still an absolute legend and a master but so is the Monster and he’s still pursuing further legacy enhancement whereas I think Oleksander is on a final victory lap with his career now.

Either way we’re all lucky to be watching boxing with these two superstar champions still competing. Love them both.

 

By beating a Bivol leftover? I don´t think so, pal.

 

He is. Shakur is on his heels though.

 

I just don't see it. The skills aren't there for me for such a lofty title. He's athletic, has power, and is beating good competition, but I'm not seeing that next level intelligence a p4p #1 has.