I have some questions after what happened yesterday in Japan. One of Inoue's biggest victories, Marlon Tapales, lost by unanimous decision to the very inconsistent Yukinori Oguni, whom I considered one of the worst champions in history at 122 lbs. Yukinori Oguni had previously been defeated in a one-sided fight by Ryosuke Iwasa and lost in one round against Fillipus Nghitumbwa... There's also the dangerous Thai Aran Dipaen, one of Inoue's best victory at 118 lbs (Bantamweight), who was easily defeated on points by Toshiki Shimomachi, whom I don't even consider was the number four in Japan at 122 lbs (Super Bantamweight). There's also Michael Dasmarinas, who lost by stoppage to the good but "pretty ordinary" Kyosuke Okamoto and Elijah Pierce, who are far from world-class at 126 lbs. Emmanuel Rodriguez, who regained the IBF title after his loss to Inoue, lost to Ryosuke Nishida, even going down after a powerful body shot. Jason Moloney then lost to Yoshiki Takei and Tenshin Nasukawa, who was still a beginner at the time. Do we really need to talk about TJ Doheny, who already had six losses and had previously lost decisively on points against Michael Conlan? Then after Inoue, TJ Doheny lost by retirement to Nick Ball without even winning a round if my memory is well ? Then there was Ye Joon Kim as the challenger, replacing Sam Goodman at 122 lbs. He's courageous, and it's true he beat Yuttapong Tongdee after Inoue, but he lost before Inoue to an American journeyman named Rob Diezel. He was also in a war before Inoue with the Thai Aekkawee Kaewmanee (He was already 39 years old and no longer belonged to the Kiatkreerin camp; he had already fought over 300 battles and was already almost retired). Apart from Luis Nery, Ryoichi Taguchi, Akhmadaliev, Adrian Hernandez and Nonito Donaire / Omar Narvaez who both was already olds against Inoue. In hindsight, I think Inoue's opponents were rather overrated. While I'm not saying Naoya Inoue isn't a phenomenon, either his challengers aren't as good as they're made out to be specially at 108 and 115 lbs, or Inoue leaves too many marks on his opponents, who then decline quickly the option is a possibility also specially if you look some his former challengers like Juan Carlos Payano, Samartlek Kokietgym, Antonio Nieves...
Looking back, the craziest thing for Inoue was beating Ryoichi Taguchi in his 4th pro fight,Adrian Hernandez in his 6th pro fight, and especially beating Luis Nery at 122 lbs.
Some fighters ruin their opponents because they inflict damage. Good examples are Inoue, GGG, Beterbiev types. Inoue is number 1 or 2 p4p unquestionably.
As to Marlon Tapales, He may just be aging and this is the fight that showed it or he may not have taken a Oguni seriously. With regards to the level of Inoue’s Competition overall, almost every champion who’s had a lot of title fights, be it in one weight class or multiple weight classes, will have some opponents that just weren’t that great even though they fought for the title. They’re just aren’t that many great fighters out there.
Tapales held 2 titles when Inoue fought him. Was he supposed to not fight him? Covid got in the way of the Casimero fight, so he ended up having to hang around at 118 until 2022 to finally unify the division. Who knows if the Moloney, Dasmarinas, Dipaen and Butler fights even happen if Inoue unifies the division in April 2020? The Doheny and Joon Kim fights came about because of Sam Goodman injuries. He didn't really need the Picasso fight but they were trying to build the Nakatani fight, which almost back fired for Junto. He seems to have prolonged his stay at 122 for the Nakatani fight, which is understandable.
You are not wrong and enjoyed reading your post of honesty for once in regards to Nonoya.I always said his opponent are questionable.Everytime you do the Nonoyans come at you with a bat and pitch fork.So not gonna bother.Look he is a great talent but in a weak era of boxing.Theres no denying he is great for what he does a big puncher and speed to boot.He is like a NAZ Hamed glassy chin but is exciting to watch.If your best win is Donito Nonaire and Narvez then you give a ok resume but not qty per say of past great fighters.You can only beat what is infront of you i guess.
Stopped reading at "Dipaen one of his best wins at 118". Thinking about it I should have stopped sooner.
While it's true that Inoue hasn't exactly fought a murderers row of opponents, these are the only guys really available for him to fight and for their weight divisions are all mostly genuine contenders. It might just be that some of these divisions just weren't very strong when Inoue passed through them, but that isn't his fault. Not like he has tons of elite guys he can fight that he just chooses not to as is the case with guys like Tank Davis. Some people over hype his resume and don't hold it to the same standard as they do others but it is still atleast a top 3 resume in the world today.
That's can be true also... But he would be the only one who leaves so many traces on his opponents, along with Beterbiev currently.
