Crawford or Inoue, Who's Better?

With Crawford's fight tonight, I've binged all of his biggest wins, and with Inoue's barn burner last month, I done the same. So it begs the question, who is better?

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Pound for Pound, Inoue ranks higher imo, Crawford is more dominant but Inoue moreso, with somewhat similar résumé. But Inoue has been doing bigger things recently, so I rank him higher right now. So that's Inoue at #2, and Crawford at #5.

Skillwise, it's a lot harder for me to gauge, both are top 3 in the sport for me, behind Loma. As Inoue is a menacing force on the front foot, and good on the back foot. Whilst Crawford is quite the contrary, excellent on the back foot, and OK whilst leading.

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Inoue's pin-point accurate offence is terrifying.

His punch structure is lethal, he throws excellent straight and short shots, as well as being able to throw every punch well. The two I'll mention specifically here are his jab, and left hook to the body. His jab against Donaire was brilliant, he threw it often and with force, using to split Nonito's guard, and set up combos. His left hook to the body is he bread and butter punch, and the best body shot in boxing. He sets it up and delivers it perfectly, usually resulting in KDs and KOs.

Inoue's footwork is textbook, and highly effective. Whilst boxing Donaire, he always had balance and was completely in control of the range to set up his counters. He could float like a butterfly and dart in and out with punches. Inoue's feet also contribute to his effectiveness on offence, as he cuts off the ring superbly, and has his feet set at the right angles to get full leverage and power.

His defence is solid, but he's only truly elusive when that's what hes focusing on, once he starts thinking about other things, he's a lot easier to hit, what makes it so reliable all of the time, is his management of distance with his feet, he's in and out of distance with a quick punch before he can be countered. He can block and parry well, but prefers to sit behind a high guard whilst being pressured. All in all, he has a good defence, but not on a level of Terence Crawford.

Inoue's ring IQ is world class as well, but Crawford's is better. Crawford makes adjustments to suit his opponents and devises intricate game plans whilst Inoue uses his own style and inforces it on his opponents. Both are excellent ring generals in different way, Crawford uses his feet to keep an opponent guessing and his jab to keep them at range, Inoue on the other hand, is a physical specimen who uses his skill and gifts to have an opponent doing what he wants.

One thing's for sure though, The Monster is alot more versatile than Bud. He is much more comfortable on the back foot than Bud is on the front and can do everything, whereas Crawford seems to not like it when he's forced to lead.

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Crawford does everything well, he is an outstanding technical fighter.

His movement, foot work, jab, combinations and stance switching make him a very tricky customer. He is one of the few switch hitters who actually utilise both stances with full capability. He can either keep switching and using fresh angles to retreat or attack from, or stick to one to avoid giving the other opportunities. For example, against Gamboa he kept him second guessing and unsure of where punches where coming from and where Crawford was going. Whereas against Postol, he showed he could use one stance to exploit a weakness/remove an opponents strength.

His counters are stunning, he has brilliant timing and is very accurate. His best attribute here is his range and management of it, imo. He knows when to throw them whilst maintaining balance, power and getting the correct leverage on his shots.

Crawford's defence is excellent, he has a good "radar" for punches, and so seems to always have his hands in the correct place to parry. When leading, which doesn't happen to often, Crawford's guard is actively blocking punches whilst setting up his own. It's brilliant to watch, and highly effective. His headmovement is very good too, he can pull counter well and slip punches on the back foot.

He can be very surgical, throwing short counter punches and crisp combos (Eg. Khan KD, 5th vs Postol) but also throws long, wide, looping hooks at odd angles, that look sloppy and leave him open (Eg. Gamboa KO). It's not his fault he has freakishly long arms though, which definitely contribute to his long punches, and his lacking inside. It wouldn't hurt him to short punch more, especially when going for a finish.

He also seems a little one note, not one dimensional per se, but he definitely isn't the best at forcing the action. He looked awkward walking Postol and Horn down, and seemed uncomfortable with throwing punches on the front foot.

He's quick on his feet and with his head, looks to hit decently hard but his chin is untested by a huge puncher. He does have very fast hands though. Inoue's attributes are more tested imo, having faced a better opponent than anyone Crawford has so far against Donaire.


I think I'm leaning to Inoue on this one, as both are very very skilled, Inoue has that versatility that Crawford doesn't, although with Crawford having a clear edge in ring IQ I can see it the other way. Tough question.

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He's a very adaptable, as I've mentioned. But in terms of drawing a lead compared to giving one, Inoue is much better. He can fight comfortably in more styles, Crawford looks incredible when he's doing what he wants, but not so much when he's out of his comfortzone.

 

What would your top 3 chins be?

GGG, Nelo and Inoue?

Mine would be Nelo, GGG and Parker

 

No Canelo?

 

Agreed