As great as he is constantly proving himself to be, Japanese superstar, now four-weight world champion Naoya Inoue has his limits. Not in terms of his seemingly otherworldly ring skills – technique, awesome conditioning, speed, an enormously enviable ring IQ, a proven chin, and of course withering punching power with both hands – but in terms of size. In terms of how far, in terms of how high, “The Monster” can go.
Today’s boxing world moves crazily fast, almost as fast as a single mistake from an Inoue ring rival can result in him being wiped out in a flash, and already people are asking what Inoue will do next. And some folks who should know better are putting out crazy demands of Inoue, they have crazy expectations of him. Believe it or not, but some people in the industry really do think we could one day see Inoue fight Tank Davis – you know, the guy who won a belt up at 140 pounds.
Despite the fact that Inoue said himself at the post-fight presser following his utter destruction of Stephen Fulton that he feels it could take his body as long as three years to fully adapt to the 122 pound division, this the fourth weight he has conquered, there is talk of the 30 year old going up to 130, to 135, and even higher.
Stephen Espinoza said to Fight Hype that he himself would “love to see” Inoue face Tank. Espinoza conceded how the very idea of such a fight is “crazy” – yet he spoke of the way Inoue has moved up a lot in weight already and how he has maintained his power with each move. “It’s only 13 pounds,” Espinoza said of Inoue going up from 122 to 135, this where a clash with Tank presumably exists in his mind and in the minds of some other people.
“Only” 13 pounds? We are talking about a man who won his first belt at a lowly 108 pounds! Inoue is spectacularly great, for sure, but he is not Superman. Tank, who walks around at, what, 150, 160, would be far too big for Inoue. In fact, the only way Inoue loses a fight is if he goes up too far in weight (or if age one day catches up with him, this before he has hung ’em up)
Fellas, let’s be reasonable, Inoue might be able to dominate at featherweight, he might be able to win a title or two at super-featherweight. But 135? Come on.
Inoue has said himself that he will stick around at 122 (and will very likely fight, and, let’s face it, defeat, Marlon Tapales next, maybe in November) and that he MIGHT go up to 126 pounds one day. And Inoue will continue to prove his greatness by doing just that.
But this talk of Inoue going up to lightweight – this an incredible seventh weight division for him – and him fighting the so much bigger Tank Davis has to stop. Yes, the once-in-a-lifetime Manny Pacquiao conquered eight weights, but Pac Man is, well, he is once-in-a-lifetime material.
Inoue-Tank is a mere pipedream. And it is also a very bad, dangerous idea.
Hey, I could be wrong, and what do I know? Maybe Inoue could pack on “just” 13 more pounds and maybe he could fight Davis. And to really start dreaming big, how astonishingly all-time great would Inoue prove himself to be if he actually defeated Tank!
Wow. Naoya Inoue is so super-special he really is making plenty of level heads spin!