Last Thursday morning, from Saitama, Japan – in a bantamweight championship unification bout that was broadcast in the US by the relatively new powerhouse streaming app service known as DAZN – WBA bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire squared off against IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. This was the final contest in the World Boxing Super Series 118 pound tournament.
This ultimately wound up being a terrific contest between two highly skilled boxers who both exhibited tremendous heart and determination. It was a highly entertaining tactical chess match with frequent short explosive moments scattered throughout the entire 12 rounds of action. At the end of the night it was a unanimous decision for Inoue, with judge Luigi Boscarelli scoring it 116-111, judge Robert Hoyle had it 114-113, and judge Octavio Rodriguez had it 117-109. With the victory, Naoya Inoue had just become the new unified WBA/IBF bantamweight champion of the world.
So the big question is, was Inoue vs Donaire the 2019 Fight of the Year at this point in time?
2019 has been a very good year for boxing fans where we’ve had a lot of compelling contests, many intriguing clashes of styles, some dramatic highlight reel knockouts, and several unification bouts scattered throughout various weight classes. By and large, things are looking up for professional boxing, and the outstanding unification bout between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire is just the latest in a long string of examples where boxing fans have seen entertaining high quality boxing matches being fought at the elite level.
This edition of Rummy’s Corner provides a brief recap into last week’s showdown between Inoue and Donaire while exploring the question of whether that fight is deserving of 2019 Fight of the Year consideration. Additionally it also provides a brief recap into some of the more memorable boxing encounters 2019 has produced thus far, while taking a quick look forward at some of the remaining bouts scheduled to close out this fun and exciting year for fans of the sweet science. For one man’s take on this situation please watch and enjoy the video.