Roman Gonzalez vs. Naoya Inoue.

Hopefully there's an Inoue-Gonzalez trilogy in the future.

 

Inoue just makes no sense.

He's kind of Gonzalez's polar opposite, from a spectator's perspective.

When you look at Gonzalez's mechanics and everything, you can nod along, say "yes I'm following...he is putting ABC together, XYZ, that's why he is dominating..." - and with Inoue, he just dominates in a manner that always seems to be unfolding too fast to make heads or tails of (though speed isn't really the x factor with him) more dreamlike or cartoonish.

Crazy thing is, usually in cases where you say anything like that you're talking about one guy being technically sound and the other being "sloppily" or "unconventionally" effective. Hardly so, here. Inoue, while no Gonzalez, is a fine technician. You can't fault much of what he does. He doesn't just rely on freakish athleticism or or awkwardness or anything. He can box like mad, not like Gonzalez can, but more than most others in the sport, and certainly more than nearly all other single-digit novices (bar the pair of Olympic gold-toting Ukrainian lads, and...that's about it, really). It just doesn't seem like anything he is doing, while all sound enough, ought to be producing quite the results he gets, in contrast with Gonzalez where it all links up, cause & effect, in a scientifically observable pattern. Inoue's power, timing, and distance control are remarkable. So are Gonzalez's, but he at least shows his work on the chalkboard.

Anybody get what I'm saying?

 

The good news as concerns this is that Honda-San & Ohashi-San (heads of Teiken & Ohashi Promotions, respectively) are good buddies with a solid working relationship.

This won't be hard to make. :deal

 

Kosei Tanaka is the same.

 

Butler beats the breaks off them both.

 

Matt....isn't it nice to say we were on the bandwagon before there was a bandwagon!

 

I do IB, and you should actually know the answer because you box yourself. Certain fighters have something that isn't just a physical skill, but a mental skill and that's insight. Knowing just how your opponent is going to react in a specific situation, after a attack, where his limbs are and what his possibilities are at that moment. Without even having to look, what can he defend and how can he attack and what can't he do. All in a split second.
Some fighters just have that naturally.
If you can combine that with either accuracy, power or speed, or better yet, any combination of those, you're already an exceptional boxer, even if you have other flaws.

It looks to me Inoue has that. How he moves, how he puts his punches together. This guy is something really special, and I'm a fan

Now I'm going to watch a monster movie

 

Kinda, You've used an excess of words to describe the fact that you can't really understand what makes Inoue so good, but FWIW I kinda getwhat you're saying. There isn't really anything specific about the kids style or technique that makes you think he should be a world beater.... but yet he is.

I can't give you any answers, but remember being 21? Perhaps just fantastic natural talent coupled with with the unshaken belief of being that age can carry you a long way?

 

Butler takes him to pugilism school

 

I can't think of a single good reason for saying something like this.

They can fight in 2015, 2016, AND 2017 for all I care.

OODA Loop concept. Inoue gets it. He's a natural fighter. He's mean. He understands the fluidity of a fight, when to turn it on, when to back off, when to go low when they expect him to go high, when to pressure, all that good stuff. A lot of what he does isn't teachable.

He kind of strikes me as a maneuver warfare guy while Gonzalez is an attrition warfare guy. Gonzalez beats guys up (skillfully) until they can't take it anymore. Inoue just overwhelms them goes for the quickest route to victory.

Not saying he's better than Gonzalez, but they approach it differently. Gonzalez seems to approach it as a technical problem to chip away at while Inoue seems to approach it more like a fight. I would LOVE to see them fight each other.

Well said.