Naoya Inoue vs Orlando Canizales

inoue's a bit special.

i haven't watched enough canizales to say much on this.

 

Canizales is one of my all time favorites and a fight between he and Inoue would be an amazing showcase of speed, skills, offense, and ferocity. I do think Canizales falls short due to his defensive lapses and consistency issues at times that may be the difference. Inoue's power, sharpness, and ring IQ will be too much even for Canizales. I see Inoue winning this via decision 8-4 or 9-3.

 

Canizales had everything required to be a great fighter in abundance other than focus, drive and the will to win, which sometimes made him less than the sum of his parts even against fighters a lot less gifted. He was a more formidable and extensive mix of textbook skill and physical talent than Inoue imo, but not as determined or constantly switched on.

Ultimately it's tough to know how truly good/great he was despite his long reign due to some uninspired efforts against mediocre fighters and not unifying any of the titles. I've usually been objectively critical or at least wary of overestimating other fighters with a crudely similar profile, but have always had the slight impression that Canizales had the tools to beat almost anyone when fully on it. Though it's possible that he might not have been able to impose himself upon better fighters than he faced, and Inoue would've been his best opponent.

He had the same imposing physical traits as Inoue in terms of speed, toughness and power, and similarly good footwork, but was a more varied and fluid puncher. A better punch slipper and counter puncher imo who could roll quickly from dodging incoming fire to attacking in combination or countering on the move in a way that I'm not sure Inoue has in him. But highly frustrating and prone to sleepwalking in a way that Inoue isn't.

I've said before that I think that Inoue gets by more on his speed, determination and excellent power rather than advanced skill set other than his good footwork. More likely to outgrit or outslug Canizales than win a battle of all round ability imo and more with the look of an excellent to arguably border line/low end great than a nailed on one. He faces a quandary having pissed a good part of his career down the drain missing out on career making fights at the lighter weights he campaigned at and fighting largely dreadful opposition despite having unified and dominated at bantam.

A very, very good impressive fighter indeed but not imo the accomplished all rounder or atg talent that his numbers and hardcore fans would have you believe. He still has time but needs to get a wriggle on, and I don't think he has the necessary talent around him to take him into deeper waters and may thus retire with question marks around him that some will no doubt consider to be overly harsh and biased. When you're best opponent is the fossil of Donaire, you've got a problem on your CV. I seem to be a minority though in how I view him (shrug).

 

i just watched canizales vazquez. vazquez wasn't good either. orlando was a bit overweight but fought a lazy rigo style fight.

inoue by ko for sure.

maybe i need to see other canizales fights?

 

Yeah the Vasquez fight was a poor effort from Canizales and he was past his prime by that point. Close fight though, as I recall.

 

that seemed like one of the best fights for this matchup (modern weight rules and all that)

both guys showed some skills for sure.

level below inoue.

 

I don't know the answer to the central question, but I do know watching one fight of Orlando when he was past prime and above his optimal weight to make a determination is horribly flawed.

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Nice one son, I was about to recommend the Hardy rematch.

Edit: Nice to see you back btw.

 

Do you mean Canizales Vic, or Inoue, sorry?

 

Inoue needs to have convincingly beaten a fighter in or around Canizales's level mate before a statement like that can really hold any water. But he bypassed the one division as a splinter titleist at superfly where he could've been knocking off the likes of Estrada, Gonzalez, Sor Rungvisai etc to pursue the mighty Jamie McDonnell. Nice lad and much improved, he's from my city, but not exactly an ideal component if you're out to construct a top class CV.

 

fun fight, thanks. i was never shitting on the man. he beat the **** out of that hardy dude.

inoue is way bigger and way better, i never disrespected orlando and i am firm on my pick. largely because of weight and size. the difference is huge.

 

Thanks mate.

Orlando was seldom more formidable than in the Hardy rematch IMO.

It was a rematch that never should have been necessary. Hardy wasn't in Orlando's league, but of course Orlando often fought down to the level of his opponent, which is perhaps the biggest criticism you could make of him, along with his mediocre win column.

At his best though, mesmerising to watch.

 

there is actual weight boxing and there is modern boxing. it's a ***** but it is what we have to deal with.
canizales lost a round or two to a pretty basic guy who he'd already kd'd. tf would he be able to do with inoue?