Boxing Speculation, Odds and Predictions

[Baofeng]

@Hirose UK. I agree on your argument that Inoue does not need this fight, however, I very much disagree that this fight will be worthless if this was negotiated by their teams, approved by the fighters and promoted by the promoters. This will be one of the biggest fights in boxing similar to Tank vs. King Ry. If they are not fighting for a championship, this fight will also be a legacy fight.

It will really cemented their legacy specially for the winner of this fight and I think it will be bigger than Tank vs King Ry specially if Inoue can continue to win and become a champion and dominated his opponent, similar to what Tank Davis might also do.

So it will be good though, no matter how you look at it and then we have the comparison again with Manny Pacquiao going up in weight limit and then punishing Miguel Cotto at his best weight class. So this is very much possible to happen, hopefully both can sit down and talk if the opportunity presents itself.

I very much agree, especially if the Japanese fans want to compare him to Pacman. Inoue should accept great challenged vs. great boxers who might be bigger than him. However, if he is happy to be less than Pacman and all of the great boxers then this is also okay. But the Japanese fans should never say that Inoue is on a similar level as Pacman. Also, I am aware that this is arguable, but I reckon Mayweather is lesser than Pacman in boxing greatness.

To be fair, I don't see Inoue backing down from any challenges, he has tasted the canvass already and so it might make him hungry and motivated the next time and doesn't want that to happen to him. But we really don't know though on the side of Tank Davis. He has publicity said that he will not fight Inoue because Inoue is too small for him. Although he said that will be a fun fight.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lCYj39ZAi9E

Also, another comparison is Pacman vs. Antonio Margarito who is very much bigger than Pacman. After he won the championship against him, Pacman said he can keep the championship because he will not fight in the heavier middleweight division again hehehehe.

Pacquiao was really hurt in that fight. He admitted that he took him weeks to recover specially the body blows that he took and there are rounds that he almost knock down from a huge body shot from Margarito.

I would only begin to consider the greatness of Naoya Inoue if he will fight 2 more big names after Stephen Fulton. I reckon these big names would be Brandon Figueroa and the other name is we have mentioned already, Tank Davis.

Also on these big names, 1 of them should be a fight that would give Inoue much difficulty and this would force a rematch very much similar to his fight against Nonito Donaire.

There's plenty of time for Inoue to become great, first he really had to go out of Japan and fight other champions. Need to clean up the 122 lbs and then move up to 126 lbs and then beat the likes of Figueroa or Vargas or any other champion Featherweight.

I want him to fight Rey Vargas, it might be the first time that we will see him fighting a taller guy and we gonna look at how he will adjust with that kind of disadvantage. That's a good measurement for him in my opinion and probably it will bring the greatness in him if he is put on this kind of uncomfortable situation.

[jakelyson]

To be honest, he hasn't done anything yet in the 135 lbs division and what others have said, he is a paper champ here. He didn't face Haney at this division, and then we have Shakur and Loma still lurking. Loma is a regular champion now and so there is a chance that Davis could step up and fight Loma or even Shakur. And in this fight, he weigh in at a slim and trim 133 lbs, so meaning he can still make weight here and probably have time to make it in the next coming years. And I don't think that money will be a problem as for sure there will be a lot of promotions or even the Saudi to cover for this big fight if Davis wants it.

After that fight with Frank Martin maybe a fight that is not a cherry-pick but Gervonta Davis's fight will need to wait I want to see Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, or even Denys Berinchyk for the WBO belt so he can be an undisputed champion just like Naoya Inoue and unified the belt in the lightweight division but another defense fight and I think he can have a shot into getting those belts.

I would only begin to consider the greatness of Naoya Inoue if he will fight 2 more big names after Stephen Fulton. I reckon these big names would be Brandon Figueroa and the other name is we have mentioned already, Tank Davis.

Also on these big names, 1 of them should be a fight that would give Inoue much difficulty and this would force a rematch very much similar to his fight against Nonito Donaire.

Yup! he was really amazing in unifying the belts in the Bantamweight and the Super Bantamweight and right now Stephen Fulton has shifted into the Featherweight Division I really think Naoya Inoue can also dominate the Featherweight Division now that Stephen Fulton is in that Division and he is now dominating the Super Bantamweight I really think he is already ready to give it a try in the featherweight Division in my honest opinion but it is taking it slowly and surely.

[inthelongrun]

To be honest, he hasn't done anything yet in the 135 lbs division and what others have said, he is a paper champ here. He didn't face Haney at this division, and then we have Shakur and Loma still lurking. Loma is a regular champion now and so there is a chance that Davis could step up and fight Loma or even Shakur. And in this fight, he weigh in at a slim and trim 133 lbs, so meaning he can still make weight here and probably have time to make it in the next coming years. And I don't think that money will be a problem as for sure there will be a lot of promotions or even the Saudi to cover for this big fight if Davis wants it.

After that fight with Frank Martin maybe a fight that is not a cherry-pick but Gervonta Davis's fight will need to wait I want to see Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, or even Denys Berinchyk for the WBO belt so he can be an undisputed champion just like Naoya Inoue and unified the belt in the lightweight division but another defense fight and I think he can have a shot into getting those belts.

Indeed. Tank is only popular just like Jake Paul and Ryan Garcia but never really great. But he has the potential to be great although he seems to be running out of time at 29 years old. So far Tank became a 2 division world champion. But he never tried unifying his belt against the other champions. Tank's current WBA belt was only emailed to him because he was the regular champ before Haney vacated all the belts.

I was also surprised Tank came in at 133 lbs which means he'll be staying in this weight for long. Hopefully after this win over Martin, he unifies the belt. WBO champion Denys Berinchyk is the least popular among champions so he should be easy to negotiate with. I will also give Tank credit if he moves up at 140 and rematch WBA champion, Pitbull Cruz for a chance to become a 3 division champion although I heard he rejected interest of a rematch.

[Hirose UK]

There's plenty of time for Inoue to become great, first he really had to go out of Japan and fight other champions. Need to clean up the 122 lbs and then move up to 126 lbs and then beat the likes of Figueroa or Vargas or any other champion Featherweight.

I want him to fight Rey Vargas, it might be the first time that we will see him fighting a taller guy and we gonna look at how he will adjust with that kind of disadvantage. That's a good measurement for him in my opinion and probably it will bring the greatness in him if he is put on this kind of uncomfortable situation.

Of course, at his age it is still possible to achieve more satisfying success and he has the potential to do so, but in the near future I not sure that Inoue will be able to do it any easier because maybe he will fight against stronger boxer that he has never faced before.
But on the other hand, I believe that Inoue will slowly have target to achieve all of that, nothing is easy and there will always be challenges when deciding to go to new class.

Rey Vargas is quite great fighter and he recently managed to defend his title after dramatic fight against Nick Ball who is an undefeated boxer, they ended in draw even though Rey Vargas also fell several times.
If Inoue fights Rey Vargas then I sure there will be pressure for Inoue to beat him because Rey Vargas himself has quite significant advantage over Inoue, but this could possibly be an amazing fight if it really happens.

[btc_angela]

There's plenty of time for Inoue to become great, first he really had to go out of Japan and fight other champions. Need to clean up the 122 lbs and then move up to 126 lbs and then beat the likes of Figueroa or Vargas or any other champion Featherweight.

I want him to fight Rey Vargas, it might be the first time that we will see him fighting a taller guy and we gonna look at how he will adjust with that kind of disadvantage. That's a good measurement for him in my opinion and probably it will bring the greatness in him if he is put on this kind of uncomfortable situation.

Of course, at his age it is still possible to achieve more satisfying success and he has the potential to do so, but in the near future I not sure that Inoue will be able to do it any easier because maybe he will fight against stronger boxer that he has never faced before.
But on the other hand, I believe that Inoue will slowly have target to achieve all of that, nothing is easy and there will always be challenges when deciding to go to new class.

Rey Vargas is quite great fighter and he recently managed to defend his title after dramatic fight against Nick Ball who is an undefeated boxer, they ended in draw even though Rey Vargas also fell several times.
If Inoue fights Rey Vargas then I sure there will be pressure for Inoue to beat him because Rey Vargas himself has quite significant advantage over Inoue, but this could possibly be an amazing fight if it really happens.

Inoue future still looks bright, and even if he goes up and fight Rey Vargas, he will be really tested here. But Vargas has been vulnerable to power punchers and if Inoue caught him right into his chin, not sure if he can go back up from that power punch.

But first Inoue will have to clean the division up before chasing 126 lbs. Still very young and Inoue is about to hit his peak or prime years and so that is going to be impressive if he become the first boxer to become a 3 division unified champion and it's going hard to break.

[Baofeng]

I just want to share with you a terrifying scenario wherein a boxer having seizure during a fight,



It just shows how dangerous this sports is as we all know that they will have to put their lives on the line when they are in the ring and even if you are cleared by a doctor to fight, you just don't know.

[Kemarit]

^^ It was scary indeed, and the good thing is that his opponent didn't take that opportunity to hit him when he started to just froze there, otherwise if might be worse for this boxer. Good thing is that he is already doing fine and the cause of seizure is dehydration.

Williams was fighting for the NYC Attitude team, who said after the fight he had been "discharged from the hospital" and was "doing well".

Williams also made a statement on his Instagram, saying: "Yes, I’m fine. Doctor said I was too dehydrated."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/articles/cpvv0ry6gz0o

And going back to rehydration, still remember Ryan Garcia has that rehydration clause against Tank Davis and it could be the reason why he looks so frail and weak during that fight. It's not a excuse but this kind of incidence tells us that rehydration is very important for this boxers and if you go there not enough water in your body, you might get seizure like in this case.

[btc_angela]

And it just shows that even if you are cleared by medical professional, there are still something that even at the advancement of science, some symptoms are undetected like in this case, a seizure did happen inside the ring.

Most likely though that this fighter might not go and box again because of this incident as the next time, he won't be as lucky and worst comes to worst, his life might be in danger the next time. Hopefully, doctors might learn a thing or two, or boxers themselves specially in they are trying to make the weight cut.

[Hirose UK]

~snip~

Inoue future still looks bright, and even if he goes up and fight Rey Vargas, he will be really tested here. But Vargas has been vulnerable to power punchers and if Inoue caught him right into his chin, not sure if he can go back up from that power punch.

But first Inoue will have to clean the division up before chasing 126 lbs. Still very young and Inoue is about to hit his peak or prime years and so that is going to be impressive if he become the first boxer to become a 3 division unified champion and it's going hard to break.

Yes, that could happen if there is mistake and Rey Vargas is careless in his position, but the possibility is small because their body postures are different and of course it will be easier for Rey Vargas to defend himself so as not to get heavy blow.
But this is fight that can only happen if Inoue can really rise smoothly because right now there are still several fighters who should still be able to be Inoue opponents, who knows what the future will be like because it is not clear what Inoue future will hold.

Of course it would be big achievement for Inoue if he could get it, but now that he has also achieved the unification of three titles and become the undisputed champion, maybe Inoue can make it all happen if he is able to beat the fighters above him.
It is not easy to beat fighters who are in much higher class, Inoue has to adapt to different fights, in terms of punches and defense it is not easy to overcome.
As I said before when I heard how Inoue has goal of moving up in class, there will always be challenges he faces, if he dares to risk his career then that is quite brave decision for Inoue.

[TravelMug]

~snip~

Inoue future still looks bright, and even if he goes up and fight Rey Vargas, he will be really tested here. But Vargas has been vulnerable to power punchers and if Inoue caught him right into his chin, not sure if he can go back up from that power punch.

But first Inoue will have to clean the division up before chasing 126 lbs. Still very young and Inoue is about to hit his peak or prime years and so that is going to be impressive if he become the first boxer to become a 3 division unified champion and it's going hard to break.

Yes, that could happen if there is mistake and Rey Vargas is careless in his position, but the possibility is small because their body postures are different and of course it will be easier for Rey Vargas to defend himself so as not to get heavy blow.
But this is fight that can only happen if Inoue can really rise smoothly because right now there are still several fighters who should still be able to be Inoue opponents, who knows what the future will be like because it is not clear what Inoue future will hold.

Of course it would be big achievement for Inoue if he could get it, but now that he has also achieved the unification of three titles and become the undisputed champion, maybe Inoue can make it all happen if he is able to beat the fighters above him.
It is not easy to beat fighters who are in much higher class, Inoue has to adapt to different fights, in terms of punches and defense it is not easy to overcome.
As I said before when I heard how Inoue has goal of moving up in class, there will always be challenges he faces, if he dares to risk his career then that is quite brave decision for Inoue.

I like the match up though, Inoue vs Vargas when Inoue steps up at 126 lbs and then Rey Vargas giving him that welcome. But Inoue will not get a free pass at 126 lbs because there's heavier, bigger and his attributes are a disadvantage against this weight class. Not just Ray but Luis Lopez, the IBF champion is also very difficult match up for Inoue.

This is the fight of Lopez against Gonzalez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkLZPFeLN8

So as boxing fans, we will also love to see Inoue vs Lopez at Featherweight.

[Kemarit]

~snip~

Inoue future still looks bright, and even if he goes up and fight Rey Vargas, he will be really tested here. But Vargas has been vulnerable to power punchers and if Inoue caught him right into his chin, not sure if he can go back up from that power punch.

But first Inoue will have to clean the division up before chasing 126 lbs. Still very young and Inoue is about to hit his peak or prime years and so that is going to be impressive if he become the first boxer to become a 3 division unified champion and it's going hard to break.

Yes, that could happen if there is mistake and Rey Vargas is careless in his position, but the possibility is small because their body postures are different and of course it will be easier for Rey Vargas to defend himself so as not to get heavy blow.
But this is fight that can only happen if Inoue can really rise smoothly because right now there are still several fighters who should still be able to be Inoue opponents, who knows what the future will be like because it is not clear what Inoue future will hold.

Of course it would be big achievement for Inoue if he could get it, but now that he has also achieved the unification of three titles and become the undisputed champion, maybe Inoue can make it all happen if he is able to beat the fighters above him.
It is not easy to beat fighters who are in much higher class, Inoue has to adapt to different fights, in terms of punches and defense it is not easy to overcome.
As I said before when I heard how Inoue has goal of moving up in class, there will always be challenges he faces, if he dares to risk his career then that is quite brave decision for Inoue.

I like the match up though, Inoue vs Vargas when Inoue steps up at 126 lbs and then Rey Vargas giving him that welcome. But Inoue will not get a free pass at 126 lbs because there's heavier, bigger and his attributes are a disadvantage against this weight class. Not just Ray but Luis Lopez, the IBF champion is also very difficult match up for Inoue.

This is the fight of Lopez against Gonzalez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkLZPFeLN8

So as boxing fans, we will also love to see Inoue vs Lopez at Featherweight.

Inoue will still be very competitive at 126 lbs, another great champion here is Rafael Espinoza, another tall champion like Vargas, but he has a heart of a lion and his fight against Rob Ramirez if I'm not mistaken was the fight of the year, better check him out.

And most likely this is what Inoue is very careful of going up to Featherweight although again, I think he can still give this champion a lot of problems specially if he can bring that power up at 126 lbs and see how he will deal first with contender and then the eventual champion.

[serjent05]

Inoue future still looks bright, and even if he goes up and fight Rey Vargas, he will be really tested here. But Vargas has been vulnerable to power punchers and if Inoue caught him right into his chin, not sure if he can go back up from that power punch.

Inoue's climb to featherweight might take some time.  There are still opponents he needs to beat in 122 lbs and cleaning up the division will have lots of controversial and possibly evasion either from Inoue's camp or his opponent's.  So probably Rey Vargas is out of his prime when Inoue is about to meet him in the boxing arena.  Despite the age, I am also curious to see Inoue fighting a much taller opponent, I wanted to see how he, Inoue, will shorten the distance, break the defense of Rey Vargas and deliver his knock-out punching power.

But first Inoue will have to clean the division up before chasing 126 lbs. Still very young and Inoue is about to hit his peak or prime years and so that is going to be impressive if he become the first boxer to become a 3 division unified champion and it's going hard to break.

Wouldn't Inoue be the first one to unify three divisions if ever he successfully conquered and unified the belt in the Featherweight Division?  Is there anyone who is ahead of him?

[FinneysTrueVision]

Inoue's climb to featherweight might take some time.  There are still opponents he needs to beat in 122 lbs and cleaning up the division will have lots of controversial and possibly evasion either from Inoue's camp or his opponent's.  So probably Rey Vargas is out of his prime when Inoue is about to meet him in the boxing arena.  Despite the age, I am also curious to see Inoue fighting a much taller opponent, I wanted to see how he, Inoue, will shorten the distance, break the defense of Rey Vargas and deliver his knock-out punching power.

Rafael Espinoza, the WBO featherweight champion, is even taller than Rey Vargas. According to BoxRec, he is 6’1” (185 cm). He is younger, undefeated and in his prime, compared to Vargas. He is with Top Rank so it is inevitable that they will meet someday in the future if Inoue wants to become undisputed again. The difference in size is comparable to Tim Tsyzu and Sebastian Fundora. Regardless of how good a fighter is, such a disadvantage will be a considerable challenge to overcome.

[AmoreJaz]

Inoue's climb to featherweight might take some time.  There are still opponents he needs to beat in 122 lbs and cleaning up the division will have lots of controversial and possibly evasion either from Inoue's camp or his opponent's.  So probably Rey Vargas is out of his prime when Inoue is about to meet him in the boxing arena.  Despite the age, I am also curious to see Inoue fighting a much taller opponent, I wanted to see how he, Inoue, will shorten the distance, break the defense of Rey Vargas and deliver his knock-out punching power.

Rafael Espinoza, the WBO featherweight champion, is even taller than Rey Vargas. According to BoxRec, he is 6’1” (185 cm). He is younger, undefeated and in his prime, compared to Vargas. He is with Top Rank so it is inevitable that they will meet someday in the future if Inoue wants to become undisputed again. The difference in size is comparable to Tim Tsyzu and Sebastian Fundora. Regardless of how good a fighter is, such a disadvantage will be a considerable challenge to overcome.

With Espinoza's record of 25-0, and with his height of 6'1" - he is a very good contender to challenge Inoue's boxing skills. If Inoue will move up and said to be happening in 2025, he has high chance to face Espinoza. Inoue has 67.5 inch reach, whereas, Espinoza is said to be at 74 inches. That's quite a large gap here given that it is boxing.
Tom Gray gave his opinion on this potential matchup, and from what he is seeing here, Inoue can beat Espinoza even with those mentioned advantages. Seems that Inoue will be the favourite here and Espinoza will be the underdog despite of his record and stature.

Can Rafael Espinoza beat Naoya Inoue? Mexican boxing champion's chances of destroying 'The Monster' in potential matchup
 

[bbc.reporter]

@Jating shared a video where Eddie Hearn and Devin Haney has a problem. It begins on 4:20.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onNmdz9WuFY

It appears that the Eddie Hearn is implying that it will be difficult to promote Devin Haney after the loss to King Ry and it would also be very difficult to make money from his fights. Does this also imply that King Ry has ended Devin Haney's career? Yes, I reckon. Boxing will not very be profitable for Devin and his father anymore. He can only return as a big name in boxing with a rematch against King Ry and Devin must win this.

Promoting Haney will be something similar to marketing a broken product.

[Hirose UK]

~snip~

I like the match up though, Inoue vs Vargas when Inoue steps up at 126 lbs and then Rey Vargas giving him that welcome. But Inoue will not get a free pass at 126 lbs because there's heavier, bigger and his attributes are a disadvantage against this weight class. Not just Ray but Luis Lopez, the IBF champion is also very difficult match up for Inoue.

This is the fight of Lopez against Gonzalez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkLZPFeLN8

So as boxing fans, we will also love to see Inoue vs Lopez at Featherweight.

For some reason there are several reports circulating about Inoue still feeling comfortable in his current position, he doesn't seem very interested in preparing himself more quickly and trying his luck in other, higher classes, this makes some people feel confused about Inoue future.
Recently I also saw some news about Luis Lopez who was waiting for Inoue to arrive so he could meet and risk what he has now, Luis Lopez is really like fighter who likes challenges, he will take risks if Inoue want to fight.
But basically Luis Lopez or Rey Vargas are two fighters who are almost the same, they each have their own advantages if they meet Inoue and I agree that both of them are not fighters that Inoue can easily beat in the future.

Whatever happens in the future, if it is fight for the monster against heavier fighter when he moves up in class, it will definitely be fight to look forward to, Inoue will get new challenge and this is what we want from Inoue.
He the undisputed champion and being able to risk it all for greater achievement is risk for Inoue, but if he succeeds then he will be the best fighter.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

I haven't seen anyone discussed about this fight, It's Jesse Rodriguez against Juan Francisco Estrada. The fight is schedule this June 29.



It will be the first time that Estrada will defend his WBC belt after defeating Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. And he has been inactive for 2 years so this could be a big factor in this fight as he is no longer getting any younger as well and he had a lot of wear and tear throughout his career.

He will be fighting one of the best prospects in Jesse Rodriguez, the number 1 contender, and has been a flyweight champion.

And interesting that Estrada is a huge underdog in his fight. Per ML,

Estrada-4.0
Rodriguez-1.22

And Bam Rodriguez beat the legendary Estrada, although early on, Estrada score a flash knock down on Rodriguez, Bam continue his aggression and that body shot really put down Estrada for good. Here are the highlights of the fight,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSscLSVqfiU

It might be good for Rodriguez to move up to 118 lbs and fight the winner of Ioka vs Martinez, that will be huge specially if that happen in Japan (meaning Ioka beating Martinez this week).