Proper now, there’s no query as to which boxers must be considered the easiest on the earth, whose names belong on the high of everybody’s pound-for-pound listing. It’s both Terence Crawford or Naoya Inoue—good luck making a cogent argument for anybody else. Positive, you possibly can’t blame Oleksandr Usyk for the truth that Tyson Fury is ducking him, however nonetheless the conflict that will doubtlessly put “The Cat” at primary hasn’t occurred. Sure, Artur Beterbiev is dominant, however he’s by no means held a title exterior 175, nor has he defeated his chief rival, Dmitry Bivol. And whereas a first-rate Canelo could be spoken of with Bud and “The Monster,” he’s on the again 9 of his profession and it’s beginning to present.
Crawford and Inoue are the 2 who haven’t solely received belts in a number of divisions, however dominated these weight lessons, and prior to now week each scored stupendous victories that confirmed their generational greatness. Lots of people have Crawford within the high spot, with Inoue an in depth second, whereas some put them in a digital tie. However I’m not going with the development or copping out: for my cash, Naoya Inoue clearly deserves to be primary.
Earlier than I’m going on to state my case, let me be clear about my standards. Each fighters are properly on their strategy to being Corridor of Famers, so I’m simply speaking about at the moment, proper now, who’s the perfect pound-for-pound man in boxing. I’m score each boxers on their current, extraordinary fights, and their exercise since 2018, which is when Crawford moved as much as 147, and when Inoue entered the bantamweight division.
So to start with, trying on the previous 5 years, Inoue’s file is, for my part, extra spectacular than Crawford’s. Whereas Bud’s utter destruction of Errol Spence could also be, on paper, the perfect single victory between him and Inoue, his wins earlier than that don’t bounce out as best-in-the-world spectacular. Since transferring as much as welterweight, Crawford has crushed Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez Jr., Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, David Avanesyan, and Spence. Khan, Brook, and Porter may appear like spectacular scalps, however all had been properly previous their primes when Crawford confronted them. Porter even retired instantly after being stopped for the primary time in his profession. The Spence win, whereas an enormous victory, is the one one which’s really outstanding. It was additionally the one time Crawford fought for a welterweight belt moreover that from the WBO, which Terence received from Horn and defended seven instances, however by no means in opposition to one other titleholder till going through “The Fact.”
In the meantime, in the identical span of time, Inoue has crushed Jamie McDonnell, Juan Carlos Payano, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Nonito Donaire, Jason Moloney, Michael Dasmarinas, Aran Dipaen, Paul Butler and Stephen Fulton. Fighter for fighter, that is, at the least to my eyes, a stronger listing of wins. And whereas Donaire was previous his peak when he fought Inoue, I choose him to be at the next degree than Crawford’s aged competitors, and actually Donaire regained a world title strap instantly following his 2019 defeat to Inoue.
Extra to the purpose, Crawford has but to be examined the way in which Inoue was in that first epic struggle with “The Filipino Flash.” Inoue needed to overcome not solely one in every of Donaire’s profession greatest performances, however a damaged orbital bone, earlier than lastly successful by unanimous determination. To then flip round and rating a dominant KO over the identical fighter who put him via hell of their first assembly additionally scores main factors in my e book.
Plus, “The Monster” not solely cleaned out the bantamweight division over the previous 5 years, he beat a unique champion for each strap from each main sanctioning physique. Inoue defended his personal titles, after which took the others, one after the other, till he was undisputed. That’s an accomplishment deserving of significant plaudits. Plus, he prevailed by knockout in each a kind of matches, excluding his first extraordinary battle with Donaire.
These stoppage wins for Inoue are one other main issue that places him forward of Crawford in my thoughts. “The Monster” possesses the sort of one-punch energy you not often see on the decrease weights, together with a formidable 88 % knockout ratio. A younger Muhammad Ali was the heavyweight who may transfer like a bantamweight. Nicely, Inoue is a bantamweight who hits like a heavyweight. The one current instance of a smaller fighter with this sort of game-changing energy is a first-rate Roman Gonzales, who at one level boasted a 91 % KO ratio, and was additionally within the operating for the highest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet when he was at his greatest.
Crawford, whereas a technically gifted fighter who is likely one of the greatest switch-hitters I’ve ever seen, simply doesn’t have an attribute as uncommon and game-changing as Inoue’s punching energy, a weapon which, extremely, has adopted the Japanese warrior as he’s moved up in weight. Each Crawford and Inoue are wonderful at every little thing: they’ll field, they’ll punch, they’ve extraordinary ring IQs, they usually keep cool and fluid within the hardest conditions—however Inoue’s energy is the attribute of historic proportions. And this in flip is the place Inoue’s stoppage of Fulton strikes me as a extra spectacular win than Crawford’s over Spence. “Bud” has been a full-fledged welterweight for a while now, however when Inoue took on Fulton, he was going up in opposition to a fighter with apparent pure benefits by way of measurement and weight. It didn’t matter: he rendered Fulton helpless.
I additionally can’t ignore the truth that Crawford is now 35-years-old. Nothing about his destruction of Spence leads me to assume that Crawford’s expertise have diminished even a little bit bit, and typically with athletes it’s about miles not years, however Father Time usually comes quick for boxers. So whereas that is one other small issue, I feel that Inoue being 5 years youthful places him precisely in his prime, whereas Crawford, regardless of his domination of Spence, is way nearer to the tip than the start.
It’s been nice studying a few of the arguments concerning who deserves to be primary, Inoue or Crawford, and a powerful case could be made for each. Boxing followers continuously have this type of debate over fighters who’re lengthy retired and even lengthy lifeless, nevertheless it’s not that always we’ve got such an in depth pound-for-pound debate in actual time. I’d favor Inoue, however that’s no knock on Bud Crawford. Each are nice champions, and lengthy might they reign. — Joshua Isard
