Most important fight for Naoya Inoue's resume: Bam, Nakatani or Espinoza

Nakatani. It would cement him as the GOAT in Japan. Bam is still a smaller guy with some weight classes to jump. Espinoza could be replaced by any other decent 126 title holder as far as the accomplishment of winning a belt at feather.

 

Bam is the biggest fish, the only one that would for sure separate him from Bud and Usyk.

Bam is a bona fide hall of famer at 25, and skyrocketing up the P4P list like you said. A win over Bam would almost definitely end up being the crown jewel of Inoue’s resume.

Another positive is that Bam is an American fighter known for being highly skilled. Some people still try to discredit Inoue by saying he only beats tough but unskilled Asian and Latino fighters who brawl. Hard to make that argument against Bam if you’ve actually watched him; he is Mexican-American but has clearly evolved his style beyond the stereotypical Mexican brawler style.

Nakatani would ofc be a massive win too. He’s also a P4P talent, but if you notice some fans are already trying to elevate Haney over him on the list after one good win. I don’t agree with that at all, but it just shows that Junto isn’t properly respected in the US. You won’t find anybody trying to say Haney should be ranked over Bam. But Nakatani vs Inoue is gonna be the most iconic Japanese fight ever and would also be the best win of Inoue’s career so far.

I think Espinoza is a great fighter and would also be a better win than Fulton. But I just know if Inoue folds him people are gonna say he’s just a freakshow who wasn’t that good, even though in the literal sense of pound for pound he might actually be a more impressive win than the other two.

 

All these guys are P4P talents.

Espinoza would do most for his career because he's the biggest challenge by far. I'm kinda sure that Inoue would beat Nakatani and very sure he'd beat Bam, but Espinoza is a stylistic nightmare.

 

This but beating Espinoza won’t be great for him historically

 

Personally, I have considered him one of the best of this generation for quite a while. He is outstanding in a way few are.
If he was american and a few weight classes up, most would have him p4p #1 with his technique and offensive approach and success in his fights.

 

Nakatani or Bam.Back to back.That would be awesome.Perhaps a trilogy in the making.Good fight and match up.Bam skills is immense but he is the smaller man.Nakatani can bang and has the reach and height advantage possiblly the most dangerous right now .

 

Right now Nakatani. If he beat Bam many would discredit it with Bam moving up two weights. It would be if they met in the middle.

 

If he does that he will be the best of his generation for me. Unless Crawford beats the top dogs at 175 lbs or Usyk continues to dominate HW for a long time.

But that is extremely unlikely to happen. Usyk will probably at best beat Kabayel and another top contender or two. Crawford is probably looking to have one more big pay day against Canelo and then retire. He knows he'd most likely lose against any of the top 3 at 175 and Ennis isn't enough money for the risk.

 

Nakatani. Junto is the best of the three, it would be a mega-event in Japan, and there wouldn't be any arguments about Inoue beating a guy who is either smaller than him, too young, or who's been through too many wars. Espinoza would be an impressive victory largely because of the massive size disparity, but also because Espinoza is a high-quality operator. Bam has proven his quality, but is a smaller guy than Inoue still (or at least would be perceived as much, he probably walks around at the same weight as Inoue).

 

Inoue doesn't need anything to prop up an already top notch resume. However, of the three listed I would say Espinoza would do the most for his resume. Espinoza may be the lesser of the three fighters but winning a title in another weight class would do a bit more for Monster than beating two guys who would be coming up in weight to fight him.

 

Where did you get that yakuza stuff from?