The refrain after every Naoya Inoue fight of late: who can push this guy?
When Luis Nery decked Inoue hard in the first round of their 2024 bout, the skeptic could have argued that Inoue’s defense was slipping. After Ramon Cardenas, a huge underdog, put Inoue down hard in May, a narrative started to form: Inoue was too easy to catch, and when he declined more significantly, the right opponent could put him down and out.
That narrative is on the back burner now.
Inoue is fresh off two dominant unanimous decision wins over Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Alan David Picasso. Though Inoue, 32-0 (27 KOs), hasn’t displayed his trademark knockout power in these fights – and fair enough, given that he’s fighting in his fifth weight class – he’s hardly lost a round.
On the same card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, purported Inoue rival Junto Nakatani went to hell and back with Sebastian Hernandez. Nakatani escaped with a unanimous decision victory thanks to two close scorecards and one widely reviled one, but he showed enough vulnerability that few will be picking him if he and Inoue square up in May, as originally planned.
Some are looking further south in the weight classes for a plausible equal to Inoue. The leading candidate is Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs). Bam has been similarly untouchable in his recent fights, blending violence with Vasiliy Lomachenko-esque pivots and slides. He’s also earned his record against tougher competition than the 32-0 (24 KOs) Nakatani.
At his best, Bam’s supremacy enables the hyperbole.
During Bam’s recent dissection of the estimable Fernando “Puma” Martinez, DAZN broadcaster Todd Grisham attempted to make a case that Rodriguez would be the favorite against Inoue. (Bam is fighting at 115lbs; Inoue is the undisputed champion at 122.) And Grisham’s colleague, Chris Mannix, has long been banging the drum for an Inoue-Bam superfight.
But Rodriguez has seven pounds to scale, and given the thunder in Inoue’s fists, he must scale them carefully and gradually.
To date, the closest Inoue has come to a rivalry is his two-fight series with Nonito Donaire. In 2019, Donaire dragged Inoue to the brink, breaking his eye socket and rocking him several times en route to a unanimous decision loss. But Inoue blew Donaire out in two rounds in their 2022 rematch, putting the kibosh on any competitiveness between the two.
Or perhaps Inoue’s rival is heavier – perhaps at 126lbs, the freakish proportions of 6-foot-1 Rafael Espinoza would pose issues, or the helter-skelter attacks of Nick Ball could jangle Inoue’s formidable equilibrium. Inoue has said he won’t climb higher in weight than that.
Inoue’s lack of a rival so far has arguably cost him some pound-for-pound credit.
His demolition of Stephen Fulton in 2023 vaulted him to No. 1 on many lists, only to be displaced after Terence Crawford’s destruction of Errol Spence just four days later.
Oleksandr Usyk’s wins over the well-known and well-regarded (well, aside from the Francis Ngannou fight) Tyson Fury – who had six inches in height, seven inches in reach, and dozens of pounds over Usyk – made it hard to deny the Ukrainian the top spot. Inoue hasn’t had an opponent who outsized him so comically, or one who has pushed him to the limits of his abilities.
But now Crawford is retired. Inoue has fought four times this year to Usyk’s one, even if that was a flawless knockout of Daniel Dubois. Even without a peer, Inoue has a case for being the best and the most exciting fighter in the world right now. Not bad for someone whose defining performance might still be in the future.
