Teofimo Lopez Names Naoya Inoue Boxing’s No. 1 Pound-for-Pound Fighter

Lopez says Inoue’s undisputed run and title defenses separate him from the rest of boxing

Teofimo Lopez believes Naoya Inoue has separated himself from the rest of boxing’s pound-for-pound fighters after last weekend’s win over Junto Nakatani. Lopez pointed to Inoue’s undisputed championships and title defenses as the reasons he now ranks him above everybody else.

“They started very slow in the beginning, they were feeling each other out, but overall, as the rounds kept going, I think that Inoue closed it out in the championship rounds, like a champ does,” Lopez said on Inside the Ring.

“The amount of title defences that he has and the amount of everything that he has done, I think that he is number one pound-for-pound, in my opinion.”

Inoue’s standing has grown stronger over the last few years after becoming undisputed in multiple divisions and continuing to defend his titles against top opposition. His win over Nakatani added another high-level name to his record and pushed talk toward a future fight with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

Bam is expected to move up to bantamweight next month, and a fight between the two is already being discussed as one of the biggest fights boxing can make below featherweight.

Teofimo had once been part of the pound-for-pound discussion himself after becoming a unified lightweight champion, but his loss to Shakur Stevenson earlier this year in January damaged that position. He is still expected to move to welterweight in pursuit of a world title in a third division.

Teofimo has often praised Inoue in previous interviews, but his latest comments came after one of the Japanese star’s biggest commercial successes, with the Tokyo Dome event drawing major gate and pay-per-view numbers in Japan.

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