It's pro boxing bro, Saliddadio pushed rules as far as was allowed and sLomo entered the ring on its own decision getting schooled at close range with Salido landing many more meaningful shots incl. dozens of legit body blows. Then again, it was the low blows, then it was injury, then it was the judges, not a blemish on hyper-skilled sLomo's record and and Bob Arum totally did NOT pay off the WBO to BUY two world title opportunities, neither he'd earned in the professional ranks. In the meantime Inoue, Crawford and Usyk cutting thru styles and divisions and actually NOT ending up a 3-time sore loser are not among the most skilled, cause years of commentator brain wash told you it's 17-3 sLomo... The Matrix, get it? He so good! Hahaha.
Losing or winning doesnt affect how skilled you are, numptie. Loma got hit under the belt over 80 times by Salido, it was his 2nd pro fight. Loma was around 15lbs lighter than Teofimo, Loma rehydrates to 138-140lbs at 135. While Haney and Lopez are near 160 on fight night. Loma also whopped Teofimos ass in the last 6 rounds and he needed shoulder surgery after the fight. Leos downfall was the tactics in that fight, he banked on Teo tiring and it didnt happen, even with this he outlanded him comfortably across the 12 rounds. I am a huge Usyk fan and I like him way more than Loma but I have to admit Lomachenko is comfortably a more skilled boxer, even Usyk said as much
Clearly, the inability to win more than 6 pro fights on average without picking up a loss has absolutely no correlation with your skillset, if you look good on YouTube Shorts, it doesn't matter that you actually get beaten up close or at distance every once in a while.
I agree. And I like Loma a lot. I think people confuse flash with skill. Loma has both, but because when he gets going he’s very aesthetically pleasing, people call him the most skilled. But he has some clear weaknesses. There are more complete guys than him.
So what if it's pro boxing so you condone cheating then ? there's weight classes for a reason, i mean hell let everyone break the rules then and come in whatever weight they want because its "pro boxing" silly logic. Salido came into the fight as a Welterweight in a fight scheduled at Featherweight and you think that's fair game ? along with referee allowing 100s of low blows without any point deductions ? i also wouldn't class a "Split decision" as schooling either. I think any unbiased fans just call it as they see it, Salido was a total BS fight with biased referee allowing Salido to foul all night along with Salido coming into the fight 4 weightclasses heavier. Majority of the fans and professional boxers alike think he beat Haney in a competitive fight, again people are just annoyed that the house fighter always gets BS scorecards like 8-4 scorecard for Haney and scoring 10th round for Haney corruption as its finest. As for Lopez i don't think anyone argues about this fight Lomachenko clearly lost the fight giving away first 6 rounds. Again as i said you call it as you see it down the line and call out BS when it's warranted whether you like a fighter or not. As for Lomachenko's 17-3 record he's been fighting world class opposition since his professional debut, and has took risks and lost a few but that's how it goes. I'd rather a fighter take big risks and risk losing their 0 rather than sitting on a padded undefeated record. Your brining up the 17-3 without context like it's a bad record, but the context of Lomachenko fighting tough opposition since his professional debut has to be taken into consideration. It's not like he was an upcoming prospect with 20 or so fights against average opposition.
The hardest fighter to beat in boxing right now is Naoya Inoue so that's my answer to the thread question.
Usyk beat Mairis Briedis only on size. Without the size advantage he would have lost. Then he beat mr bodybuilder in a styles make fights type of meeting. Usyk does not belong on this list and if he does then historically speaking his name should always be below the name of Briedis.
I believe this poll is about right now and I don't think upper body movement and dynamic punch technique are nearly as much a part of Canelo's skillset as they used to be.
