By: Sean Crose
Make no mistake about it: Alan Picasso is an excellent fighter. What’s more, he put on an excellent performance facing the great Inoue Naoya Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, for Picasso and all his fellow Inoue opponents, he was up against a living legend. Inoue threw combinations with lightning speed reminiscent of Roberto Duran on his way to winning a decision victory in Riyadh. Shockingly enough, Inoue was unhappy with his performance, going so far as to state: “I’m really tired. I think I will rest for a while. I’m going to be much better next time.”
Pity the person the 32 -year-old will be facing next. The undisputed junior featherweight world titlist seems to be like many other athletic greats, one who is quite critical of himself. It is said that the best are rarely satisfied with their performances. That looks like it may be the case of Inoue. We may not understand it, we men and women on the street, but we’re not like the best athletes among us. Inoue is simply made differently. Yet, no matter how different he may be, the man is still made of flesh and blood. In other words, Naoya won’t remain on top, however.
Fighting with controlled aggression Inoue can take a man out with a single body blow or can wear an opponent down like he had to against Nonito Donaire several years ago. There’s only a limited amount of superb performances in any career, though. Inoue seems aware of this as he heads into the future. Still he isn’t thinking of things wrapping up. Rather he’s thinking of how he can keep winning as he has. That may include cutting down the number of fights he has each year. In truth, Inoue is old school, fighting a full four times in 2025.
As things stand, the fighter known as The Monster is now arguably the best boxer in the game. If Terence Crawford is truly retiring as he said he is then it’s hard to argue that there’s someone out there better than Inoue right now. It’s also hard to imagine someone being more entertaining. Seeing the man zip along as he fought Picasso what’s a thing of beauty. He hit hard, clean and accurately over and over again.
He may be far from the end of his career, but it’s good to watch Inoue when you can. Fighters of his talent come along once, maybe twice a generation.
