Congratulations to the pair. Hopefully 2023 is the year when both reach new heights in their already illustrious careers.
While I don't mind Bivol sweeping FOTY, I think Inoue's more deserving. Inoue KO'd 2 champs and made history by becoming the first Undisputed Bantamweight Champion in 50 years losing precisely 0 rounds. Butler was a slickster with a watertight defense and resurgent Nonito is a still murderous punching ATG.
According to a lot of Japanese articles, Inoue actually made boxing mainstream in Japan in 2022. I was leaning with Bivol because I thought his cultural impact was a lot larger, but now I'd actually say Inoue had more impact culturally. It's basically a tossup of performance vs quality. I rate Bivol's quality a good amount better, but Inoue's performance was way better. I have no issue with western fans giving it to Bivol, but yeah, Inoue definitely should have gotten more shouts than he did, and any awards in the orient for global FOTY hopefully go to Inoue.
