Will there be another All Time Great or Hall Of Famer in this current Golden Age of Japanese Professional Boxing?

[Malvado]

Prior Naoya Inoue, there was the gutsy Flyweight and Bantamweight champion Masahiko "Fighting" Harada in 1960-1970s who belongs in the International Hall Of Fame, who whenever he fought, 60% of the country's population tuned in. Something akin to Phillipines's have done with Pacquiao and Mexico has done so with Chavez Sr.



After watching a documentary by Rich The Fight Historian. I was highly impressed of what he has achieved before retiring at age 26. Beating the likes of champions like Pone Kingpetch, Jose Medel in the rematch, and Brazil's best proffesional boxer to date Eder Jofree X2. He also had a very controversial loss to Johnny Famechon in his opponent's hometown due to the only judge giving the scorecard though he won fairly in the rematch in Japan. The referee and only judge was the legendary former world featherweight champion Willie Pep. If he had won, he could have become a three division champion at featherweight.

Harada went to become the President of the Japanese Boxing Commission in 2002.

Here he is awarding Naoya Inoue a trophy, like a passing of the torch to the likely future all time great after he won the Bantamweight tournament in his difficult bout with Nonito Donaire.



Is likely that another current Japanese fighter can achieve the same amount that any of these two have done so far? Like perhaps Junto Nakatani?

[SouthpawRight]

probably not. Japan has an aging population crisis

these other countries go through booms and busts when it comes to boxing talent

remember years ago Argentina was churning out hitters: Sergio Martinez Marcos Maidana Lucas M

now the nation is silent

Puerto Rico has also been MIA

some countries have a one hit wonder. the best example being Panama with Roberto Duran

[SouthpawRight]

it remains yet to be seen if Russia will consistently churn out top fighters like the US & Mexico

Russia is trending at the moment with Bivol Usyk Loma Beter

I think Cuba is in good hands with Cubano Morrell

Cuba is small but benefits tremendously from being so close to the US. Elite Cuban boxers can move to Miami and develop in the top boxing nation

[SouthpawRight]

Naoya is a special guy. They arrive every now and then, and no one gets to pick which country they come from.

easily the most skilled asian boxer I seen

much more versatile than manny pacq

Naoya can outbox boxers and outpunch punchers

Seeing him pick apart Fulton was something else

[Malvado]

probably not. Japan has an aging population crisis

these other countries go through booms and busts when it comes to boxing talent

remember years ago Argentina was churning out hitters: Sergio Martinez Marcos Maidana Lucas M

now the nation is silent

Puerto Rico has also been MIA

some countries have a one hit wonder. the best example being Panama with Roberto Duran

Excluding Panama, these countries still produce a top fighters quite often, wouldn't say that proffesional boxing is booming like the 70-90s. But Puerto Rico has fighters like Collazo, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Matias and Zayas. While Argentina has Brian Castano and Fernando "Puma" Martinez. Not Great but not Bad either for now.

I agree that it's not like great fighters get to choose where they are born, but considering Japan's current run having multiple champions holding all the Bantamweight belts and some below. Right now is likely that such a fighter might appear like Donaire was around Pacquiao and Sanchez/Lopez around Chavez Sr.

it remains yet to be seen if Russia will consistently churn out top fighters like the US & Mexico

Russia is trending at the moment with Bivol Usyk Loma Beter

I think Cuba is in good hands with Cubano Morrell

Cuba is small but benefits tremendously from being so close to the US. Elite Cuban boxers can move to Miami and develop in the top boxing nation

I believe that Russia and Europe (Like UK, and Ukraine) always have done great in the light heavyweight divisions and above. The difference is that since the USA who has been the backbone of such divisions having been lacking as of late, they have taken the spotlight with multiple P4P fighters.

Agree about Cubans having better odds producing fighters now that they are training in the states, but as of late, they have produced quite a few solid fighters like Barthelemy which mostly go onto obscurity, not that often is there standouts like of Casamayor and Rigondeux. The majority take quite long to build them up due to their low activity rate and end up with a short career due to debuting in their late twenties. Not sure if Andy Cruz will get to do anything major either.

Morrell is of course an exception here as debuted quite early despite his major amateur pedigree, but his management need to work harder to get him those ranked fighters that don't feel like need to take a high risk low reward fighter with a low activity rate of 10 fights. He didn't get to challenge for a belt at 168 and won't be easy at 175 either unless he steps it up. Though Turki might help.

Naoya is a special guy. They arrive every now and then, and no one gets to pick which country they come from.

easily the most skilled asian boxer I seen

much more versatile than manny pacq

Naoya can outbox boxers and outpunch punchers

Seeing him pick apart Fulton was something else

I agree with it comes to boxing versatility and punching power Naoya is more impressive than the Pacman as he could likely fair better against a wide array of skillsets, though I think Pacquiao had his own strengths such as his superior athleticism, and better defensive reflexes. If they were in the same division in their prime, not sure Naoya could handle him considering the difficult with Donaire. Nery also had similar athletic ability and punching power to Naoya, but was far behind in skills against an opponent who recouped and adjusted immediately after a scare.