I don't really follow the sport as much anymore, but I will always be interested in following the: 1. Biggest+worth it fights (not Cotto-Martinez for example, but fights like Roman Gonzalez-Estrada 2, Pacquiao-Bradley 2, Froch-Groves 2). 2. The careers of the unbelievable talents. I have come back here to look at Naoya Inoue given that he's fighting Adrian Hernandez for the world title in his 6th pro fight, a historical move. I immediately see he is being favoured by a knowledgeable poster (McGrain) over Lomachenko, and I see people ranting and raving about him. Who is this guy? Can he be another next big thing? I sure hope so! I have heard of him but I hadn't seen any of this guys fights before until today, where I watched him vs Yosbany Veitia (who is 5-0 in WSB this year btw) and Zhakypov (2013 World Amateur Champion - fought top guys there and didn't drop a single point), and one of his pro fights from December 2013. Here's a little breakdown: Highly skilled, lovely body puncher, very fast, nice reflexes, he's actually impressive on the counter, good combinations. He does have a good jab too. However, you're seeing a fighter who will be a very good pro, but remember he was a top amateur. Right now you're seeing him do impressive work against pros who have no answer and comparing him to a Lomachenko who has been so focussed on his pacing strategy that he hasn't actually been THE Lomachenko just yet and won't be THE Lomachenko until he has that part of his game sorted..so you're seeing Naoya dictating the fight. HOWEVER, when he's not dictating, I see Naoya being caught out of position, I see him becoming very rash which I put down to lack of experience, but when he's rash he's not as intelligent as you'd like him to be, he has had a tendency to get hit by some big shots by Veitia and Zhakypov, right hooks being something he must learn to defend against. - When he comes forward and his opponent is throwing, he comes forward head first and keeps his hands up guarding his face but he makes himself open to hooks to the head, and gruelling body shots to the side. - He needs to improve his abilities to adapt DURING the fight, he just has all of the raw fundamentals to do so, I see a high ceiling for this guy, a very high ceiling but all of the chips must fall in the right places for that to be achieved. What strikes me about Naoya is that he seems like the type that improves a lot, and his style provides him a great scope for improvements to take place. He had a damn close fight with Yosvany Veitia, a year after losing to him 0-11 too by the way so that loss on the hindsight looks impressive, especially given that he is actually very young too. If Naoya focusses on improvement, just how he did in the amateurs, then he will be a great, great fighter as I know he will be given the lessons necessary to make him that great fighter, its up to him if he wants to take the defeatist approach and just hide behind the veil of his very, very good abilities and just soak up cheap validation wins and eventually become shopworn, or have a refreshing approach to boxing. You know as a teenager he's going to be wanting to improve, but what about when he has the £, already has a lot of 'good' wins, etc. will he bother? To say he's better than Lomachenko is far-fetched to say the least. I have given reasons why people shouldn't go away thinking the Lomachenko that you all saw vs Salido isn't THE Lomachenko that will grace the ring shortly, look in my post history. Regards Gannicus
5-0 > 1-1 You're still a disgusting fanboy, even after all your predictions about Loma fell so very short of the mark.
You're a disgusting hater. 5-0 is only better than 1-1 on numerical terms. Context is everything. My prediction was also based on Lomachenko having the pacing strategy down - that changes everything. He didn't have that part down, that's not my fault. Egis Klimas was even pissed that the team was too scared about going 12 rounds, they overestimated it and all of a sudden we see Lomachenko who could run a marathon on fight night. I was otherwise accurate in my predictions where Salido was concerned, even a subtlety that at times Loma can throw too few punches, this happens when he's ahead and in that fighting mode he was in during the Salido fight. I also said Salido can make the fight difficult for Lomachenko. I still had Lomachenko winning the fight. I'm sorry that I don't count 30 low blows, nor do I count shots that didn't land, many of which were given credit by the commentators. I watched it in slow motion with no sound again. Congratulations Salido, for stealing the fight based on 'aggression' against a guy who was focussing too much on his pacing strategy Lomachenko should stop being so cautious about going 12 rounds now, and start throwing, it's OK to be a little tired by the 10th round. He should also learn to be ruthless like Salido, dirty fighting. He should also throw combinations even though they don't necessarily land because the professional judging is so **** that he would get rewarded like Salido was. Things get easier and easier for Lomachenko, if you but knew.
Inoue is very good and serves his nickname 'The Monster' very well! Still not a mainstream fighter yet obviously, but I think once he steps outside Japan and starts fighting meaningful fights in the states only then will people start to appreciate his talents fully. Gonzalez/Cuadras/Estrada vs Inoue are all small weight Super Fights!
He don't look like a fighter but he has a lot of natural ability. Good footwork and lateral movement. Knocks them out with the left hook which is one of the best in the business. Can hook off the jab and switches from the head to the body intelligently. The most impressive thing about him is the way he unleashes brutal power laden shots with the ease of a veteran which seems to come effortlessly to him. He does have flaws which have been mentioned and a worrying thing could be that he is not developing as quickly as he should. He seems to be at the same level as he was 5 fights ago. It's too soon to be talking about the experienced Gonzales but he is young and should be given a chance to develop his potential and gain experience. Fighting Harada is generally considered Japan's greatest fighter but Inoue has the potential to go past him. He has already picked up titles at 108 and 115. I guess he was growing too fast to stop off at 112. He's already knocking on the door of the p4p list. He's an exciting fighter to watch and should gain a lot of notoriety in the coming years.
