Naoya Inoue already surpassed Jofre and Olivares?

I agree age doesnt tell the whole story and agree that the Saldivar that Jofre beat was well removed from his prime.

I consider that BW is the best divison for Inoue, Donaire and Jofre. FW for Saldivar. The difference between BW and FW is monstrous.

Saldivar was much younger vs Jofre than Donaire was versus Inoue, but both were comfortably past prime.

Inoue was prime vs Donaire, Jofre 37 vs Saldivar.

On balance, the Saldivar win is superior, imo.

Even if we discount both the Saldivar win and Jofre's entire BW (where I rank him the GOAT, as this forum has previously voted him) ledger, Jofre still has the greatest win. His victory over the far bigger Jose Legra, when well past his own prime and out of his best weight division, is vastly superior to Inoue's win over a badly faded Donaire.

Inoue is a great fighter though, even if his resume isn't quite ATG standard yet, I love watching him box.

 

I agree Jofre has the better resume. His run coming into the Saldivar fight is already better than anyone Inoue has on his resume right now. Legra, Hawkins, Godfrey Stevens, all would have been champions in the dozen belt era. I just don't agree that version of Saldivar compares well with Donaire from the 1st fight. That's all.

 

Excellent post, exactly as I see it.

I think that Donair gets a little overrated because of his performance in the Darchinyan fight which was excellent, but Vic was never very impressive to me apart from his crushing power.

 

Saldivar beat Frankie Crawford after the Shibata loss. Frankie was at a good stage in his career too, having been robbed against Saijo one year earlier and having a close loss in the rematch. He actually buzzed Saldivar in the fight too, but Saldivar weathered it and scored a clear decision victory.

 

Totally forgot that he came out of retirement again for that fight. Saldivar might be following Leonard in the most number of retirements ever lol.