Naoya Inoue can paint case for Fighter of the Year by erasing Picasso

Naoya Inoue senses that victory over David Picasso Saturday in Saudi Arabia allows him to supplant the now-retired Terence Crawford as the top pound for pound fighter in boxing.

It also should clinch his position above Crawford as Fighter of the Year.

With the Boxing Writers Association of America set to meet in early January to determine 2025 nominees, Japan’s four division and current undisputed 122lbs champion Inoue, 31-0 (27 KOs), is fighting for the fourth time this year.

While Crawford’s one appearance was scintillating – a unanimous decision triumph over undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in September that deserves recognition as the sport’s event of the year – Inoue has dedicated himself to rigorous matchmaking, routine activity and outstanding showings.

In May, he picked himself off the canvas following a stunning second-round knockdown at the hands of replacement foe Ramon Cardenas and proceeded to win by eighth round TKO.

Then, Inoue took on former unified 122lbs champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev and cruised to a unanimous-decision victory.

He now turns to the main event in Saudi Arabia, honoring his WBC mandatory assignment to meet Mexico’s unbeaten Picasso, 31-0-1 (17 KOs).

An impressive triumph clinches what Picasso and all others in the sport could only describe as a masterpiece of a year.

Nicknamed “The Monster,” Inoue is only two years removed from winning recognition as BWAA 2023 fighter of the year upon his TKO of two-division champion Stephen Fulton and knockout of then-fellow champion Marlon Tapales.

At 32, he aims in victory to take on unbeaten countryman and recent bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, who fights in Saturday’s co-main event versus Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez. That meeting is being planned for May at the Tokyo Dome.

In the meantime, Inoue – like Crawford – has struck a deal to become awash in cash from Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, performing as a massive -3500 betting favorite against Picasso.

In July, on the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios WBC welterweight title-fight card in Las Vegas, Picasso, 25, did his best to prepare for the destructive Inoue by meeting a bigger Japanese foe, Kyonosuke Kameda, claiming a narrow majority decision victory to preserve his WBC position.

Using that bout to project, one wonders how the scrawnier Picasso can withstand Inoue’s offensive onslaught and punching volume.

While the challenger stands three inches taller, with a 2 1/2-inch reach advantage, Inoue knocked out or stopped 11 consecutive foes stretching from his 2019 fight of the year versus four-division champion Nonito Donaire to Akhmadaliev.

As television dates and purse money have grown more unpredictable in recent years, elite fighters have increasingly geared up for one or two bouts per year.

Crawford let 13 months expire between his move up to win the WBA 154lbs belt against Israil Madrimov on August 3, 2024, and the mid-September Alvarez bout.

Advised by the late conditioning guru Victor Conte, Crawford used the time to effectively beef up just more than two years removed from his dazzling stoppage of Errol Spence Jnr for all four welterweight belts.

Relying on his advanced, double-handed power-punching stances, Crawford outworked and outmaneuvered Alvarez, winning the impressive decision at the LasVegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium before announcing his retirement and giving back all four belts this month.

As impressive as that night was for the 2014 fighter of the year, Inoue is delivering efforts that are lifting his sport in broader ways by remaining active, taking his talents to global destinations (Las Vegas, Japan and Saudi Arabia this year) and repeatedly meeting high-standard competition.

“This bout is going to be really important for my future – and how I fight will be crucial to becoming pound-for-pound No. 1,” Inoue said, with two-time undisputed and heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk also in that discussion.

Usyk also fought just once this year, knocking out Daniel Dubois.

Alluding to Nakatani, Inoue discussed the importance of taking repeated demanding assignments.

“All the Japanese fighters here have a high skillset and their mentality is very strong,” Inoue said at Thursday’s news conference. “That is proven and we will all fight good fights – and we plan to go home [to Japan] with good victories.”

Defeating Picasso would allow Inoue to exit the ring with undisputed status for the sixth consecutive bout.

To add the mythical pound–for-pound honor to his mantle along with a second fighter-of-the-year trophy in three years would place Inoue among rare company.

And while others have rested on their laurels in separate cases, his next-level commitment in meeting the sport’s ultimate and varied demands leaves him deserving of its highest acclaim.