In this week\u2019s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on Naoya Inoue following his visit to the canvas in an entertaining victory over Ramon Cardenas; Canelo Alvarez after his unentertaining victory over William Scull; and Devin Haney\u2019s emphasis on foot movement over hand movement in his win over Jose Ramirez.<\/p>\n
Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers\u2019 comments from other BoxingScene stories.<\/p>\n
NAOYA INOUE HIT HIS CEILING<\/p>\n
The constant comparisons of Naoya Inoue to Manny Pacquiao need to stop now. Getting dropped by B- and C-tiers like Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas is not a good look. They will never be on the level of Hall of Fame all-time greats like Marco Antonio Barrera or Erik Morales. He already hit his ceiling. That’s 122lbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That’s only a 14-pound jump from his initial weight class, which is 108lbs. And he’s already 32 years old. That’s too late to jump another weight class. His power will be ineffective and felt nothing by those featherweights. Pacquiao went from 108lbs to 154lbs. A 46-pound jump. Inoue will be lucky if he beats Espinoza.\u00a0<\/p>\n
David Greisman\u2019s response: Whether someone is trying to compliment Naoya Inoue or criticize him, it\u2019s unfair to try to hold him \u2013 or anyone else \u2013 to Manny Pacquiao\u2019s standard. Pacquiao is one of the best ever. Naoya Inoue is one of the best of this generation. And that is still pretty damn amazing.<\/p>\n
Inoue gets a lot of hate, some of it from people who haven\u2019t been following boxing for the duration of his career, some from people who haven\u2019t followed the lower weight classes that closely and just might not be familiar with how good many of his opponents were, and therefore how impressive it was what Inoue did against them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What Inoue has done, and what he is still doing, is sensational.<\/p>\n
He blew through one of the top junior flyweights, Adrian Hernandez, for his first world title in just his sixth pro fight. (Two fights earlier, Inoue beat Ryoichi Taguchi by decision in a victory that aged even better given everything Taguchi went on to accomplish himself.) Inoue skipped flyweight and went straight to 115lbs and obliterated the consensus top guy there, Omar Narvaez.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unfortunate that Inoue\u2019s time at junior bantamweight didn\u2019t quite align with the New Four Kings, who were either occupied or not in the division at the same time. As I wrote last year: \u201cNaoya Inoue had a three-year world title run from the end of 2014 through 2017. Sadly, the timing didn\u2019t align right for fights with the rest. Roman Gonzalez joined the division at the tail end of 2016 with a win over Carlos Cuadras and had his two fights with Sor Rungvisai in 2017, losing one controversially and the other brutally. Estrada arrived at 115lbs himself at the start of 2017 and took on Cuadras later that year. By 2018, Inoue had moved up to bantamweight to begin his great run there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was astonishing to see Inoue blast out Juan Carlos Payano in 70 seconds and Emmanuel Rodriguez in one and a half rounds. The people who crap on Inoue being dragged into a war with an old, past-his-prime Nonito Donaire seem to be glossing over how revitalized Donaire looked after returning to a more natural weight class for his body. (Few mock Floyd Mayweather Jnr, nor should he be, for his battles with Marcos Maidana, who\u2019d been given hell years before by an ancient Erik Morales and who had already lost to Amir Khan and Devon Alexander.)<\/p>\n
At 122? Inoue immediately crushed the top guy, Stephen Fulton. Was Fulton harmed by draining his body? Perhaps. But that was out of Inoue\u2019s control. He\u2019s beaten Fulton and everyone else put in front of him, has done far more than anyone else in the weight class right now has done, and has done it in a remarkable manner.<\/p>\n
As for Nery and Cardenas, you\u2019re telling on yourself \u2013 or trolling \u2013 with your description. Nery was one of the top remaining contenders, and not just the scraps left over after all the good stuff had been taken at a dinner party. Cardenas wasn\u2019t prominent but was deserving, as shown in his win over Bryan Acosta in February, then shown again last weekend. On this night at least, it was Cardenas proving himself better than people expected \u2013 not proving Inoue worse than believed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, Inoue has been caught and dropped twice. Fighters are going to get hurt when they make mistakes and leave themselves vulnerable for great shots from good fighters. It happened with Pacquiao both early and later in his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Your deserving praise for Marco Antonio Barrera? I wonder what you would have thought of him after his losses to Junior Jones. How about that Muhammad Ali guy getting dropped by Henry Cooper \u2013 and perhaps saved by shenanigans \u2013 only to win the heavyweight championship one fight later? Would you have written off a young Andre Ward after he was downed by legendary journeyman Darnell Boone?<\/p>\n
Does that mean Inoue\u2019s reign will last forever? No. He\u2019s not perfect. But he\u2019s still one of the best until someone proves otherwise. And even once Inoue does lose, that won\u2019t retroactively rewrite the way we look at his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WHY SO MUCH HATE FOR NAOYA INOUE?<\/p>\n
I don’t get at all the hate on Naoya Inoue from some of y\u2019all. Is he vulnerable at 122? Yes. Should his achievements be compared to Pacquiao’s? Probably not, and his career arc is quite different from Manny\u2019s. But he is must-watch entertainment, and a beauty to watch as he unfolds his arsenal unto his opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There’s no one like him in boxing right now, except maybe Boots, and the status of Ennis hasn\u2019t yet been set in stone. I can\u2019t wait for Inoue’s fights with Murodjon \u201cMJ\u201d Akhmadaliev and Junto Nakatani. Those will be very serious challenges for him. Oh, and by the way, I don\u2019t ever see Inoue suddenly changing his spots and becoming a defensive boxer. That’s just not who he is.<\/p>\n
Tris Dixon\u2019s response: The lack of marquee names is, I believe, what hurts Inoue with those who hate on him. True boxing fans know, appreciate and respect what he is doing. But there\u2019s still an element out there who thinks he\u2019s done nothing unless he wipes out Gervonta \u201cTank\u201d Davis. That\u2019s sad, but it\u2019s where he is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Should Inoue get the fights with the likes of MJ, Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez and Nakatani, that will satisfy more fans. But when you think of a Pacquaio, who was able to transcend through the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, those same parallels don\u2019t exist for Inoue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We just need to enjoy him while he\u2019s here, because there\u2019s a good chance that in 12-18 months he will no longer be flying high. And I\u2019d rather see him fight as he does for a shorter period of time than prolong his career and adapt and become more defensive. He doesn\u2019t need to prolong anything. He\u2019s 30-0 and plenty wealthy enough.<\/p>\n
INOUE WILL BE FINE AT FEATHERWEIGHT<\/p>\n
People keep talking about \u201cIf Inoue gets hit like that at 126\u201d \u2013 like, what the fuck, are guys moving up in weight not supposed to get hit at all, or the moment they get hit then they get knocked out or something??? I’m sure he\u2019ll be fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owen Lewis\u2019 response: It\u2019s been amusing how people have been discussing Inoue like a fragile flower since he got knocked down. Sure, Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas tagged him with left hands \u2013 knocking him down hard both times, by the way \u2013 but we\u2019re talking about individual punches here. Anyone who\u2019s ever watched Inoue box or listened to him talk knows that he loves a firefight, which means he\u2019ll get hit more often.<\/p>\n
I imagine Inoue will fight with a bit more caution against heavier or more powerful foes, but even if he doesn\u2019t, I think all the speculating about what will happen to him is a bit overblown. Yes, it\u2019s absolutely tantalizing to have such an elite champion with a tendency to get clocked by huge left hands. It makes Inoue vulnerable even as he cuts through opponents like a buzzsaw in a way that Terence Crawford and even Oleksandr Usyk aren\u2019t really, despite the latter\u2019s presence in a division with the biggest punchers of all.<\/p>\n
But Inoue also eviscerated Nery and Cardenas for practically every second that he wasn\u2019t on the canvas. He\u2019s still dominant; he\u2019s just tasting more thunder now. Let\u2019s wait for him to fight someone with even more lightning in his fists before predicting his demise.<\/p>\n
NO ONE WOULD LOOK GOOD AGAINST WILLIAM SCULL<\/p>\n
I’ll be honest \u2013 if Scull fought like this against anyone else, how good do you think they would look? These types of fighters are called spoilers for a reason. Does it mean Canelo couldn\u2019t have done more? No, but you\u2019re never gonna look good against an opponent like this when they are hellbent on survival and not winning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucas Ketelle\u2019s response: Scull is indeed a spoiler, as you mentioned. He is a high-risk, low-reward opponent who primarily aims to go the distance and be hard to hit. If Canelo were to give him an opportunity, Scull would try to find ways to win rounds. Scull’s nature in the ring is to be risk-averse, and against Canelo, the only way he could have secured a victory would have been by taking risks.<\/p>\n
Scull sums up a weekend in which a majority of fighters didn\u2019t take the risks traditional all-time great fighters take. While Ramon Cardenas lost to Naoya Inoue this weekend , he will find himself beloved by fans for the risks he took and how he looked while trying to seize a big moment. Scull, on the other hand, will be remembered for fighting Canelo, and if he is on TV for the next fight, who knows?<\/p>\n
Scull is the perfect example of a solid amateur style that functions well at a certain level of professional boxing, though it may not be suitable for the highest levels. Yes, Scull throws power shots, but he mostly moves around the ring and avoids action. In short, it is hard to stop someone who does not want to be stopped and even harder to fight someone who is not always looking to engage. Scull\u2019s world-class trait is halting momentum, and making action limited in a fight. Neither will endear you to fans at the highest level of the sport.<\/p>\n
CANELO ALVAREZ IS DECAYING, EVEN IF HE\u2019S STILL GREAT<\/p>\n
I think whenever a fighter who was known for scoring frequent knockouts stops scoring knockouts \u2013 especially against lesser opponents \u2013 it\u2019s a clear sign of decay. Canelo is decaying as a fighter. He\u2019s still great, but not who he was five years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tris Dixon\u2019s response: It is interesting to see whether Canelo has adapted to, in essence, carry opponents \u2013 or whether he is in decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think his last four or five fights have shown evidence of both, but I think John Ryder gave him a very solid fight, he coasted against Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga, and did what was just about necessary against William Scull. In his defense, that is still a good run of wins, but the manner of them has not been impressive, and a four-fight deal with him is not looking like the shrewdest investment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What if Terence Crawford tries to move and we land another dull one on a huge stage? The more I think about that one, however, the more I start to see a larger version of Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya. I\u2019ve never not liked Crawford in the fight, but now I can see why so many are picking him to beat Canelo.<\/p>\n
CANELO ISN\u2019T THE ONLY ONE SLIPPING; CRAWFORD IS TOO<\/p>\n
All this talk about Canelo slipping; Terence \u201cBud\u201d Crawford didn’t look that great in his last fight either. He finally got a big payday, and he wasn\u2019t as hungry as he was pre-Errol Spence. Also, in that fight with Israil Madrimov, Crawford was getting touched, the additional weight didn\u2019t do him any favors, his heavy hands and thudding power were not there, and this fight with Canelo is another two weight classes up the scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bud\u2019s camp knows this, which is why he didn\u2019t take the risk of a tuneup fight at 168lbs. He waited damn near a year to fight again to protect his payday. That’s not a good sign in my book, and it will hurt him being this inactive.\u00a0<\/p>\n