Pound-for-pound: Naoya Inoue's turn as the subject of debate

Another week, another pound-for-pound debate.

Two weeks ago, Canelo Alvarez’s stoppage of Sergey Kovalev sparked discussion over whether Alvarez deserves to be No. 1 in the world. This past week, fans and pundits are having the same conversation over Naoya Inoue, who outpointed Nonito Donaire on Thursday in Japan.

Inoue (No. 4 last week) deserves credit for overcoming significant obstacles in the fight, specifically a bad cut that bled much of the fight and Donaire’s size advantage. We later learned that Inoue suffered a fractured orbital bone and a broken nose. He also stood up to everything thrown by Donaire, who is known for his punching power.

All that and a determined opponent was a lot with which to contend yet he won a unanimous decision.

At the same time, Inoue, who had appeared to be superhuman in previous fights, looked mortal in this one. His vaunted punching power largely went missing against the bigger man, aside from a body shot that hurt Donaire badly and put him down. That raises questions about how Inoue would do if he continues to move up in weight.

And the Japanese idol took more hard shots than we were used to seeing, including a few that rocked him. Again, the “Monster” looked like a human being against an opponent who has seen better days.

In the end, Boxing Junkie staffers decided that Inoue shouldn’t supplant any or our Top 3 – No. 1 Vasilliy Lomachenko, No. 2 Terence Crawford and No. 3 Alvarez – based on a gutsy performance that was otherwise no better than solid.

Thus, Inoue remains at No. 4.

Check out our Top 15 list below. And let us know what you think.

BOXING JUNKIE

POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Vasiliy Lomachenko
2. Terence Crawford
3. Canelo Alvarez
4. Naoya Inoue
5. Oleksandr Usyk
6. Gennadiy Golovkin
7. Errol Spence
8. Juan Francisco Estrada
9. Mikey Garcia
10. Artur Beterbiev
11. Josh Taylor
12. Manny Pacquiao
13. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
14. Leo Santa Cruz
15. Kosei Tanaka

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Miguel Berchelt, Mairis Briedis, Tyson Fury, Shawn Porter, Julian Williams