Does anyone else feel like Inoue's career is being wasted?

He won't be seen on any P4P lists after Donaire proceeds to break his face again and send him back to Japanese house shows.

 

Nah, hes on track to being undisputed if he can beat Donaire. Hes doing all the right things imo.

 

I mean the pandemic hit the Asian countries the hardest in boxing. He’s getting back on track though so it should be smooth sailing from here. He beats Donaire then I’m sure Bob will get whomever has the WBO title in the ring with him for undisputed.

 

Wasted may be a bit strong but his career trajectory has leveled off considerably. He was on his way to being an all time great in the lower weight classes and now he may just be considered the best of his generation and one of the best of the last two decades.

There is certainly time for that to change but he does need to fight more often against better opposition. The Donaire fight is a good start.

 

I have a very bad feeling about this fight.

 

He'll KO Donaire then move up and KO Fulton. That's a four division champion unified in 2 divisions, ATG by any standard. If he beats Akhmadaliev and grabs a couple titles at 126 he'll have a serious argument for GOAT. His career isn't moving slowly at all unless you compare him to Usyk and Canelo only.

 

Covid magnified the general inertia of boxing politics for a lot of guys. Boxing is a mess right now, and yes, his career suffered. Hope he gets it back.

 

Everything you said is correct. Well said.

 

Not wasted but it's failed to really take off as many had hoped. Covid definitely made things hard as it resulted in the unification fight with Casimero being cancelled which was slated for April 2020.

Hopefully he beats Donaire in more convincing fashion to reignite his career trajectory and then we maybe see him fight in the UK to unify all the belts at 118 against Paul Butler to end the year. That would be a pretty good year and give him the platform to move up and take on 122.

 

Yeah it's been getting bad. A big part of the problem is that 118 is in terrible shape. The talent is at an historic low and worse yet they are scattered to the four corners of the globe so every fight costs that much more to make. Inoue vs Donaire will make money, but who's gonna pay for Inoue vs Rau'shee Warren or Paul Butler?

122 doesn't have much to offer either. Stephen Fulton has a little momentum, but he's PBC and Inoue seems is associated with Top Rank (not sure how restrictive the contract is there, if there is any room for him to do a one-off with PBC).

At 126 there are some fights that the Bob-father could make and they would be pretty fun. I'm still holding out hope we'll see Inoue vs Navarrete but the years are starting to tick by pretty fast.

How could you forget about global boxing megastar Paul Butler?

I'm hoping we see this, but like I said the Fulton fight might not be straightforward to make. I'm worried Inoue is one of those guys who is happy enough to just work on his craft and make a decent living without playing the politics required to take your career to the highest level.

It's why he's likable but also may limit his career.

I have a bad feeling for Donaire, Inoue will be just fine though.

 

Wasted no, stalled yes.
He's on the verge of becoming the actual champion in his 3rd weightclass.
3 division beltholder is one thing, but 3 division champion is something completely different.
And all within 23 fights. He should fight more though.
Should he be more of a household name? Yes. But that also has a lot to do with nationality.

 

Everyone and everything stalled during the two year COVID pause. He certainly can gain some traction in his career now but he needs to get busy. Koing Donaire would be a good start.

 

No. He only needs two fights to be top 3 P4P for most of the fans.

Stop Donaire + Fulton and he is on top