Puncher Of The Year: Naoya Inoue

Boxingnews247.com

Japan has a boxing sensation right now and his name is Naoya Inoue, AKA: The Monster. A truly chilling puncher, the bantamweight champ who has also wreaked havoc in the 108 and 115 pound divisions has had a most effective year. Not that we saw much of the 25 year old in the ring. The old saying in boxing suggests fighters “don’t get paid for overtime,” that they aim to terminate a fight ASAP.

Well, Inoue has made a habit of ending things early all right. Inoue, 17-0(15) fought twice this year, against very solid opposition, fighters who had never previously been stopped. Yet Jamie McDonnell, in May and then Juan Carlos Payno, in October, were brutally despatched inside three-minutes (and neither man has fought since). The world now beginning to take notice in a major way, Inoue has risen through the pound-for-pound ranks. With either hand, the 25 year old has shown lethal power and the scary thing is we may not yet have seen him at his best. Yes, it’s a great argument (one made here) that Inoue is THE Puncher of 2018.

Inoue, up at 118 pounds, seems to be punching even harder than he did down a few pounds. In fact, it’s actually been quite ludicrous how The Monster has bowled over good, quality opponents without even breaking a sweat. Inoue doesn’t even appear to load up with his shots, his power punches simply flow with absolute ease. Who doesn’t love seeing this guy fight? Fans who love a power-hitter can’t fail to get what they want when this man is in the ring. And it will prove very interesting seeing whether or not Inoue can climb up any higher in weight. How far can he take his withering power?

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A pro for just six years, Inoue is not just a limited banger though, no, he is arguably one of the very best fighters in the world. Just don’t blink when the bell sounds. Hopefully we’ll get to see a lot more of Inoue in 2019. Next up, Inoue is scheduled to face Emanuel Rodriguez, unbeaten at 19-0(12) in the ongoing World Boxing Super Series tournament. Will we see yet another speedy KO win by Inoue?