Naoya Inoue Is The Best And Most Skilled Fighter In Boxing...

[BenjaminLinus]

He's close behind Crawford. Overall I just think Crawford has more styles, approaches he uses. Crawford is A+ at adapting and adjusting to opponents. Inoue has great technique though even aside from the power.

Inoue's been far more dominant than Bud.

[HisExcellency]

Spence was deathly drained and 16 months inactive.

I’m not buying it…he’s been fighting comfortably at Welterweight his entire career and looked EXCELLENT in his last outing against Ugas. Something definitely looked off though and I think the occasion got the better of him and Crawford was far better than he anticipated.

[Lance98]

Inoue has been getting away with moves like the leaping jab that elite level fighters would counter. His opponents were slower than him, had less power and fought scared. If he fights like that, he is going to run into a wall at higher weight classes. They are talking about him vs tank...puh-lease..tank kills him. Skill for skill guys like crawford, canelo and usyk are better than inoue in terms of boxing iq as these guys have moved up in weight and still be consistent at what they do.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

I’d say Crawford but both are incredibly skilled fighters. It’s a joy to watch them go to work.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Inoue's been far more dominant than Bud.

Has he?

Crawford has 11 stoppage victories in a row and all 40 of his wins have been decisive.

Inoue has been on an incredible run too, but Donaire gave him some serious problems in that first fight. I had Inoue edging that fight.

[hugh grant]

Has he?

Crawford has 11 stoppage victories in a row and all 40 of his wins have been decisive.

Inoue has been on an incredible run too, but Donaire gave him some serious problems in that first fight. I had Inoue edging that fight.

But you got to admit for that stage of career, donaire is better than Anyone buds fought at same stage.
Buds had to show more of his game as he's been challenged more. Things been easy for inoue mostly so not need to get out of 2nd gear

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

But you got to admit for that stage of career, donaire is better than Anyone buds fought at same stage.
Buds had to show more of his game as he's been challenged more. Things been easy for inoue mostly so not need to get out of 2nd gear

Near 40 year old Donaire better than Errol Spence?I’m a huge Nonito fan but come on man.

[hugh grant]

Near 40 year old Donaire better than Errol Spence?I’m a huge Nonito fan but come on man.

You didn't understand first time so I'll rephrase it. I blame.myself my writings clearly not good enkugh!
how old was inoue when he fought donaire? When bud was the age inou e fought donaire, bud had not fought anyone as good as donaire was.
Donaire was 36 years old, nearly 37

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

You didn't understand first time so I'll rephrase it. I blame.myself my writings clearly not good enkugh!
how old was inoue when he fought donaire? When bud was the age inou e fought donaire, bud had not fought anyone as good as donaire was.
Donaire was 36 years old, nearly 37

That’s very specific man, it’s like saying could Inoue dominate an elite fighter at age 35 like Bud has just done. It’s not really relevant to who’s been more dominant.

I think both have been incredibly dominant against quality opposition, I think the OP saying Inoue has been far more dominant is crazy.

[crimsonfalcon07]

A little data to inform the discussion.

Inoue is 25-0, 20 wins in title fights. 18 stoppages across those fights (90%). 48% of his fights have been against champs, and 80% have been title fights. 4 division champ across 5 divisions, undisputed and unified.
He has fought 12 champions (counting Donaire twice) and an additional IBO champ who I’m not counting. 56 title defenses among those champs.

Ryoichi Taguchi (unified light flyweight world champ) WBA, IBF, Ring. Inoue gave him his second loss, and Taguchi still went up to win and defend world titles after, going 9-2-1 after fighting Inoue. 18-1-1 at time of fight. One defense. (Ring ranked #9, Inoue unranked at the time)

Adrian Hernandez two time light flyweight world champ. 4 defenses in his second title reign before being stopped by Inoue. 29-2-1, 5 total defenses. Ring Ranked #4 (Inoue was #9 at the time)

Omar Narvaez: two division world champion. 43-1-2, 27 defenses across those reigns.( #1 ranked, Inoue unranked in the division)

Kohei Kono: 2 time world champion, 32-9-1, 3 defenses. (#7 ranked)

Jamie McDonnell: IBF bantamweight, WBA regular bantamweight champion, 29-2-1, 6 defenses. #1 ranked in 2016, #2 at time of fight

Juan Carlos Payano: WBA and IBO champion, 20-1, one defense. #4 ranked

Emmanuel Rodriguez: IBF champion, 19-0, one defense, with wins over 2 other champs on this list. #3 ranked

Donaire (twice). Shouldn’t need to go into Donaire’s bonafides, but he reached #3 P4P by Ring, FOY 2012, 4 division world champion, has held 9 world titles, and titles in 3 consecutive decades, along with only Holyfield, Pacman, BHop, Morales, and Floyd. 40-5 at time of first fight, 42-6, 10 defenses across his many reigns. #4 ranked at time of first fight. Then beat Oubaali, who was #2 ranked, and was #1 ranked at time of second fight)

Jason Moloney: Current WBO bantamweight champ. 21-1 #6 ranked

Paul Butler. WBO champ, but no defenses. Email champ. 34-2.

Stephen Fulton: was unified WBC/WBO superbantam champ, 21-0, 2 defenses, both against world champions. #1 ranked

Combined record of his champion opponents at time of fight: 348-30-6. 90.6% wins.



Bud Crawford is currently 40-0. 17 wins in 17 title fights, 14 stoppages across those fights (82.4%). 25% of his fights have been against champs, and 42.5% have been title fights. 3 division champion, and undisputed in two divisions.

10 champs beaten, 31 defenses between them.

Ricky Burns: 3 division world champion. 36-2-1 at time of fight. 8 defenses.
Yuriorkis Gamboa: unified featherweight champion, 23-0, 5 defenses.
Ray Beltran, 29-6-1: 0 defenses.
Vik Postol, 28-0: 0 defenses
Julius Indongo unified light welter, 22-0: 1 defense
Jeff Horn, 18-0-1 - 1 defense
Amir Khan - unified light welterweight champ. 33-4. 5 defenses
Kell Brook 39-2 - 3 defenses
Shawn Porter- 2 time world champ, 31-3-1: 2 defenses.
Errol Spence Jr - unified world champ, 28-0, 6 defenses.

Combined record of his opponents at time of fight: 287-17-4. 93.2% wins.

I'm personally leading towards Bud being #1 at the moment, but he's at the tail end of his career, and Inoue is still in his prime, and has room to make more statements. They're both impressive as heck, and at the very least I think we can all agree they're the top 2. I think Bud has slightly better wins, but Inoue has faced consistently high level competition, taking on a future world champ in his 4th fight, and winning a world title in his 6th fight, and he's only at 25 fights. We'll see what his career looks like if he gets to 40 fights.