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Naoya Inoue believes he can be next to wear the pound-for-pound crown left up for grabs in the wake of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s recent defeat.
The unbeaten three-division and reigning WBA/IBF bantamweight champ will be able to stake his claim with a repeat win over WBC bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire. The two meet again this Tuesday from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the same site that saw Inoue (22-0, 19KOs) claim a twelve-round, unanimous decision win to unify the titles and win the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament.
Donaire (42-6, 28KOs) has since re-established himself as the second-best bantamweight in the world, which would enhance Inoue’s pound-for-pound claim should he win on Tuesday.
“Canelo’s defeat has made me strongly feel that I have to win impressively to become the best pound-for-pound,” Inoue told BoxingScene.com.
The rematch comes more than two years after their memorable first meeting, which was voted as 2019 Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Inoue overcame an orbital bone fracture early in the fight to outwork Donaire, dropping the Fil-Am legend in the tenth round en route to a well-earned decision win, which came just five days after Mexico’s Alvarez (57-2-2, 39KOs)—then the WBA/WBC middleweight champion—moved up two weight divisions where he knocked out Sergey Kovalev in the eleventh round to win the WBO light heavyweight title.
Alvarez has since fully unified the super middleweight division but is coming off an upset, unanimous decision defeat to WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was scored much closer than was believed to be the case according to most viewers, who had Bivol as the clear winner.
Yokohama’s Inoue emerged as a small handful of fighters to replace Alvarez at the top, a group including unified heavyweight titlist Okeksandr Usyk (19-0, 13KOs), WBA/WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence (28-0, 22KOs) and three-division and current WBO welterweight titlist Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29KOs).
The 29-year Inoue had a chance to bolster his claim at the time with a scheduled April 2020 three-belt unification bout with then-WBO titlist John Riel Casimero. The fight was canceled due to the pandemic and never made its way back to the negotiating table. Inoue has added three knockout wins to his ledger. The best of the lot was a seventh-round stoppage of still relevant bantamweight contender Jason Moloney in October 2020.
Subsequent knockout wins over IBF mandatory Michael Dasmarinas and fringe contender Aran Dipaen served as little more than time-marking fights. Donaire represents a different level of class, as proven in back-to-back fourth-round knockout wins over unbeaten bantamweights Nordine Oubaali to win the WBC 118-pound title and Reymart Gaballo in his first title defense.
Inoue insists he is ready even against a rejuvenated Donaire, with a win bringing his already spectacular career to new heights.
“I have improved in all areas,” insists Inoue. “There are no changes I’ve made for this particular fight. I still have plenty I want do in my career and consider this fight as a checkpoint like any other fight.”
ESPN+ will stream the bout live for U.S. viewers beginning at 5:30 a.m. ET. The show will air live on Amazon Prime Video in Japan.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox