Wilfredo Gomez - Naoya Inoue

Zarate also fought 5, 6, 7, 8X a year on repeat.

 

@Flo_Raiden

Let's pivot for a quick second.

How many home runs do you think Babe Ruth or Roger Maris hit in today's game with aces like DeGrom, Scherzer, Darvish, Ohtani, Verlander, etc..?

And how many home runs would Judge hit against the pitchers of old whose fastballs probably maxed out at 85 mph with very little movement?

I'm hoping you will be able to put pieces of the puzzle together.

 

Staying active and fighting that often was pretty normal in that era.

You're definitely in the minority on this one when it comes to Wilfredo Gomez and Naoya Inoue. There's a reason why Wilfredo Gomez is seen as arguably the greatest Puerto Rican fighter and also the best 122 lb fighter. Inoue still has a way to go before he reaches ATG status. He's definitely HOF status though.

 

Sorry I don't watch baseball nor do I know much about the history of that sport.

 

Who on Inoue's resume would you put up as proof he'd beat Gomez?

 

Proof is impossible for obvious reasons, but Nonito could bomb out Gomez.

 

Some of baseball's greatest hitters of all time were dudes from the were from the early 1900s (LOL!) and they put up ridiculous numbers, but none ever had to deal with a 102 mph DeGrom fastball or the 11 pitch variety of Yu Darvish. Put them in today's game and they're number 6-9 hitters at best. Put just a decent hitter in the 1900s and they'd be elite bangers.

Athletes today are bigger, faster, stronger, better. Sports science has vastly improved the athlete. Today's training camps are 8-12 weeks with high tech training methods, health monitoring, and tapes to pour through. If Zarate was fighting 8X a year, that meant he nor his opponent spent much time in training and that's possible because Zarate was fighting weak comp. Ray Robinson fought 4X within 2 months once and even went 14-0 in one year.



As an example, we can both agree that Pacquiao and Marquez are elite with incredible stamina and toughness. But if they fought each other 3X in a year, one or both will likely be permanently damaged. But they can fight 8X a year against absolute cans.

 

I mean the vote is 10-8, so I wouldn't say "definitely" as that's a pretty small sample for such a close score. And yeah, Gomez is obviously greater atm, but the question isn't "who's greater?"

To address another point:

Inoue has been Ring #1 for 9 years straight, soon to be 10, he is 16-0 14 KOs in title fights, champion and Ring #1 in 3 divisions, unified with three belts in 1, cleared out 118 (short of Casimero, who lost his belt), is 9-0 vs champs with all but one champion he has fought being KOd, is 3-0 vs HoFers having KOd every HoFer he has fought. If he gets undisputed and is still a #1 in 2023, making it 10 years at #1, I'd say he's pretty inarguably ATG. Everybody who follows the lower divisions closely know he has a way better resume than most people realize.

 

Are you saying that Inoue is this defensive wizard and doesnt get hit clean with punches?

 

Baseball and Boxing are 2 separate sports that have nothing to do with each other when it comes to training and numbers. Boxing is completely different from any other sport. You seem to be underestimating just how hard it is to be fighting often and still trying to maintain weight. Some fighters will only have a few days of training. Fighters back then were not pampered with technology. It's not like today where fighters were overpaid just by fighting twice a year, these fighter NEEDED to fight often to build themselves up and get paid well.

When it comes to fighters I don't agree with the idea that fighters now are so much better than back then. Just because a fighter fights less and spends more time in training camp doesn't make them better athletes. Training methods may have changed over time but it isn't that much of an advancement. If you say that boxers/athletes are better right now compared to past fighters then based on that logic does that mean that you favor Vasyl Lomachenko over Roberto Duran or Terence Crawford over Sugar Ray Leonard? I think a lot of people would agree that Duran and Leonard would wreck today's fighters.

 

Your argument sucks.

 

Watch the first Donaire fight.

 

Wasn't really focused on the votes, plus the votes are much more closer since this is the General Forums and people that are more familiar with Inoue are more likely to vote for him.

I don't recall Inoue being Ring #1 for 9 straight years, that sounds way too good to be true. Not saying that he can't be ATG since he has a shot to become one but I am not going to get ahead of myself and call him the greatest since sliced bread when his career isn't even over yet. Inoue is a once in a generation talent but I'm not going to pretend that he's this unbeatable fighter that can't be touched. I'd rather wait out to see how the rest of his career pans out.

 

He's actually been Ring #1 every year since 2014, tied for fourth longest *consecutively in history:

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_2014

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