Fansided

Boxing top 10 pound-for-pound list: Loma leads the way

By Matthew Saljanin

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 09: Vasiliy Lomachenko celebrates his Junior Lightweight bout victory over Guillermo Rigondeaux at Madison Square Garden on December 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 09: Vasiliy Lomachenko celebrates his Junior Lightweight bout victory over Guillermo Rigondeaux at Madison Square Garden on December 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 10
Next
Naoya Inoue
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN – DECEMBER 30: Naoya Inoue of Japan (L) punches Yoan Boyeaux (R) of France during their WBO Super Flyweight Title Bout at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on December 30, 2017 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images) /

9. Naoya Inoue

Record: 16-0, 14 KOs

Dubbed ‘The Monster,’ Inoue is one fighter who certainly lives up to his nickname. Hailing from Japan, Inoue is a special fighter, and is currently on a career path similar to the great Vasyl Lomachenko.

Inoue became WBC light-flyweight champion in his sixth fight, and after one defense of this title, he moved up two weight classes to challenge WBO junior bantamweight champion Omar Narvaez. He dismantled the champion, earning a second-round KO, giving him titles in two different weight classes in just eight fights.

After a few more fights, Inoue was able to fight for the first time on U.S. TV, when he appeared on HBO’s Super-Fly card, which featured the top five fighters in the super flyweight division. In this U.S. showing, he dominated Antonio Nieves, putting on a show for fans who were unable to watch him fight previously.

In his 16th fight, Inoue decided to move up to his third weight class, bantamweight. His first fight he challenged WBA “Regular” champion Jamie McDonnell.

Inoue demolished the McDonnell, ending the fight via TKO in the first round. It was a very impressive performance, and while he technically earned a belt, it is not the highest version of the WBA belt.

Regardless, Inoue has been running through everyone put in front of him, and I for one hope he gets more TV exposure in the US.

Barring an unexpected loss in the WBSS, Inoue will find his way to the upper half of this list sooner rather than later.

Next fight: It was recently announced that Inoue would enter the World Boxing Super Series Bantamweight tournament, and his first fight will be against Juan Carlos Payano.

Home/Boxing