He has to be Better is debatable, but greater? Yeah it's inoue No hate on loma or EE, but inoue has the titles etc to back it up Inoue is climbing through weights and absolutely decimating opponents while picking up belts Inoue is probably the real p4p but his fights are not high profile like heavier weight classes
Inoue has very clearly had the better career. As for who is better in an absolute apex prime, P4P sense, well I think that question is more nuanced.
There's no way he isn't, Inoue has clearly had the superior career. Undefeated More wins over top 10 ranked fighters Won titles in more weight divisions Undisputed in 2 of them Been on top for longer, while simultaneously being more active and busy Actually cleaned out the top competition around him 25 title fights, which is more than Loma's entire career fight count Got the job done using his own hands and without needing excuses Loma was the ultimate wasted potential of this era, perhaps only second to Rigo. He's the GOAT of hypotheticals, the king of the 'What If' division. "B-but he would have been in the GOAT convo had he stayed at 130!". Why stop there ? He would have obliterated 126 again if time ran backwards and gravity didn't exist. Perhaps he'd actually beat a Featherweight who was ranked at the time of the fight this time around, or is that where it gets too magical ? He was injured vs Lopez ? Cool, so was Inoue vs Donaire from round 2 to 12. Difference is, Inoue sucked it up and got the job done like a real pro, while Loma had to come out of the fight with a doctor's note. "B-but he would have beaten Salido if the ref had decided to DQ him". Salido came in dirty ? Sure. Loma came in naive. Welcome to the pros, you don't win titles and create legacies by waiting for the ref to make decisions for you, you do it by fighting through it. This is the hurting game. He wasn't some 1-0 novice with a 10 fight amateur career, but a 2 time Gold medalist. He should have known better. Loma fans treat his career like a failed group project, they rewrite the ending every time he flunks the test. At some point, you gotta stop blaming the lighting, the judges, the ref, the weight, the cosmos, and accept your guy’s just a phenomenal talent who got solved more than once and made bad decisions. Great talent ? Yeah. All-timer? Nah. Just the most decorated 'almost' of the era.
Lomachenko is something of a wasted potential, though a lot would argue he achieved a lot on top of his legendary amateur run. Still: Inoue was injured against a 37 year old bantam (granted, the double vision he claimed was gruesome, and Nonito still had the Oubaali and Gabalo stoppages ahead of him), while Lomachenko a good deal above his weight-class was injured against a much younger, bigger opponent who is campaigning at 140 and as far I'm as aware is contemplating going full welter. Lomachenko should not have been in that ring if he knew about the injury, but I find the circumstances a tad different. In the end it's all on Loma though. And Salido coming in overweight and not losing a single point for assaulting Loma's nutsuck is kinda against the spirit of the sport I'd say. Lomachenko having amateur experience does not prepare him for dirty scumbags—in the amateurs you get warnings for going too low with your head, let alone doing what Salido did.
I think Loma would have beaten him but Inoue has come through more weight classes and been more dominant even against slightly weaker opponents. If you include amateur as well then I’d say Lomachenko but just for pro definitely Inoue.