Definitely Fulton, for two reasons. First, Inoue's multi-division greatness is already established. If he loses at 122 it's just one weight division too high. Fulton, on the other hand. is just trying to show he belongs with the top tier fighters. Second, quite simply is the fact that Fulton would lose his title if he loses. Inoue loses nothing other than his Oh if he goes down to defeat.
Fulton. He holds both of the belts and is at his first weight whereas, conversely, Inoue vacated all his belts and will be competing at his fourth weight class. Also, Inoue's achievements spanning three weight classes have etched his name in stone as a three-weight world champion. That being said, he will slide down the P4P top 10 should he lose and if Fulton loses he can attempt to become a two-weight champion up at 126.
Inoue. He has been propped up by the boxing elites for quite a while now. A lot of people are invested in him and a lot of people will go down with him should he lose. As for Fulton, he's just a blue collar working type guy. He gets up every morning and gets his lunchpale and clocks in without all the fanfare and accolades an hype. Fulton does have a street named after him in San Francisco, but that won't be going anywhere or getting renamed anytime soon. Especially not over some silly Inoue
I'm not even going to bother with the question cause Inoue ain't losing he bout to end Fultons career in spectacular fashion. Book it.
Inoue. He's making multi-million dollar purses at this point, has celebrity status in Japan, is on the verge of being considered the best fighter in the world, he's on the verge of being considered the greatest fighter in Japanese history (with this fight pushing him a big step closer to that consensus) and his career is based around how easily he dominates his opponents. Fulton has made 500k max before this, and the boxing semi-casual interest in him is largely based around him being a potential opponent for Inoue and Fig. He can still probably get the Fig fight after Inoue.
If you're the champion and you lose your belt (s) to the challenger you're no longer a champion anymore. You have been defeated by your opponent. Bested in the arena of combat by your foe. I hate it when fighters say I have nothing to lose the pressure is all on my opponent. What the hell? You absolutely do have something to lose and any true warrior or fighter worth their weight in salt should always feel under pressure when they're entering into the arena of combat - the pressure to win. The pressure not to lose. If the thought of losing doesn't fill you with dread you will never scale the heights of a true winner. This is a champion's mindset.
Inoue would have no issues getting another big fight soon again. A loss here could set Fulton back years. He won´t get another title shot at 122 any time soon. And at 126 his only hope is to land a rematch with Figueroa.
This fight was supposed to happen this weekend. Now it's still almost three months away. Dammit I can't wait to see this execution.
The way I see it, if Fulton loses, he simply lost to a P4P king and ATG, and there's no harm in that Meanwhile if Inoue loses then he has basically reached his ceiling and won't be a champ at the higher divisions outside of beating weaker champs and snatching their belts This is basically Bivol-Canelo again
