Jeff Fenech vs Naoya Inoue

I like Fenech a lot in this one.

would be a freakin brawl.

 

i agree, but fenech in the first fight was a different beast than the fighter who came out of retirement to get redemption

 

To be clear, Fenech retired after the Marcos Villasana fight at featherweight. He'd broken his hands (again) & would never (officially) win another world title fight.

He came out of an (albeit) brief retirement to go after Azumah & was unlucky not to get a decision in their first fight. I actually wasn't that surprised with the decision at the time. Jeff threw a lot of punches & landed plenty but there wasn't much authority on them b/c his punching power was gone. It was a case of a guy who was past his best pulling it all together for a last hurrah. But for the judging on the night, he would have pulled it off. He was certainly in decline before that though. I mean, when he resumed his career he fought Mario Martinez before Azumah (who Azumah had stopped). He was dropped & hurt in that one - although he denies it to this day (being hurt, that is). I watched all of Jeff's fights back in the day & the Martinez fight was the first real tell-tale sign that he wasn't the fighter he previously was. He managed a hard-luck draw with Azumah after that but that was all she wrote.

I like Inoue on points at Bantamweight due to his better skills & hand speed. Fenech was still very raw as a Bantamweight. I'd take Fenech at Super Bantam & Featherweight where his physical strength, pressure fighting & ferocity would be too much. A little harsh on Inoue given he's yet to fight at the higher weights but that's how I see it.

 

Inoue KOs the Aussie bum. Australia is bum land for boxing.

 

If we're going to compare Jeff & Inoue, we also need to consider that Jeff wasn't on the kind of modern 'sports science' that some of today's fighters appear to be. Some of the super human performances we've seen over the last 15 years or so are b/c they are.

My regards to your alt, @Pakkuman.

 

Actually he retired after Martinez who was a pretty good fighter and like Fenech he too was robbed in his first fight with Nelson.

 

He retired after Villasana. I was at that fight & he may have even announced it in the ring after the fight.

 

He fought two times in 89 against Villasana and Martinez then he came back in 91 to fight a no name before the first Nelson fight.

 

I'm still pretty sure Jeff retired after the Marcos Villasana fight notwithstanding his lack of activity in 1990. My memory is that his retirement was very brief. He did play for Parra in 1990 though.

I'll check the post-fight interview following the Villasana fight & see what he says when I have more time.

 

Fenech actually had retired quite a while before he first fought Nelson. From memory after he fought Marcos Villiasana or maybe Victor Callejas or Mario Martinez, so ****ing long ago it's hard to remember . He had major issues with his hands, I remember him tearing up at a post fight presser and retiring. It was short lived.
Anyway my point is, as much as I loved Jeff Fenech as a fighter, Nelson was the best opponent Fenech ever fought and the hardest hitter. Fenech fought a lot of quality fighters, don't get me wrong but the only two 'great fighters' he fought were Nelson and Zarate (Zarate way over the hill). Nelson was past him prime when Fenech fought him aswell. In a fantasy match up with Inoue, we are talking about a guy who still has monster power as he's moving up in weight and is already a 'great' fighter in his prime. However at Bantamweight or Super Bantam, Fenech in his prime was a ****ing awesome fighter and a beast with relentless non stop punching, I tend to agree with you, he would probably stand a good shot at overwhelming Inoue.

 

Baroness what? Are you Fecking 10 you gimp.

 

Marrickville Mauler at 122 and 126 mauls The Monster

 

Inoue KOs him in under 8. And it won't be close.

 

I'm going with Inoue, I think in the two years since this thread was posted he's separated himself from Jeff. Fenech was great, Inoue is greater.