Naoya Inoue vs Antonio Nieves

[handsofstone]

Inoue defends his WBO Super Flyweight title against Nieves on the Rungvisai/Gonzalez 2 card, I'm looking forward to finally getting a good look at Inoue, ive only seen a wee bit of him, this is his US debut and his UK TV debut as well, everyone has been raving about him for a while, world champ in his 6th fight, 2 weight champ in about his 9th, he looks the goods, I hadn't heard of Nieves, this is his first title shot, he's got 1 SD loss and a couple of draws, looks a big step up

I cant imagine US TV executives will want to put Inoue in a dangerous defence on his coming out party, I expect him to win but I don't know enough about either man to say whether Nieves will go the distance, I'll guess he wont

[TheLeprechaun]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

[handsofstone]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

Really?? That's the 1st negative thing ive ever read about him

[handsofstone]

Really impressive display from Inoue he's an absolute beast, hits unbelievably hard for a little guy, TBF he was levels above Nieves but he ripped him apart round by round and Nieves was in survival mode from the 1st round, Nieves tried to hang in there with him but Inoue is just relentless with his aggression and stalking, he was just punching through the guard and his body shots were sickening, Nieves done really well to survive after being decked in the 5th with a left hand downstairs

As well as brute power, Inoue has great speed and punch variety, I look forward to seeing a lot more of him

[Andrew]

Good corner work by Nieves team pulling him out.

[samwbr]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

Who's that then?

[crusader]

Don't really see anyone at 115 would 'hard' expose Inoue. Estrada might have the best chance of beating him....

[Boxing Prospect]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

Might just want to watch some of his other bouts...I advise the Yuki Sano one, where he fought much of the fight with 1 hand, or the Kono fight, which he fought mostly as a counter puncher

[handsofstone]

Inoue reminds me a little of Golovkin, or at least his tactics against Nieves did, walking forward punching through guards, the power he generates for a little 'un sounds incredible

[lefty]

I think inoue is the best super flyweight in the world. He's defensively lax at times but I get the feeling (from some of his other fights) he could box more responsibly if he wanted too). He just enjoys throwing bombs and doesn't seem to care about what comes back at him. His speed is also very nice and helps him a lot.

[lefty]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

Might just want to watch some of his other bouts...I advise the Yuki Sano one, where he fought much of the fight with 1 hand, or the Kono fight, which he fought mostly as a counter puncher

[Counter-puncher]

Limited banger.

Will be hard exposed by the first pure boxer he faces

Might just want to watch some of his other bouts...I advise the Yuki Sano one, where he fought much of the fight with 1 hand, or the Kono fight, which he fought mostly as a counter puncher

i don't agree he fought as a counterpuncher against Kono, if by counterpuncher we mean someone who punches on the counter, taking advantage of openings when his opponent throws. against Kono IIRC he fought more on the back foot than usual, used more lateral movement and took more of a 'boxer's approach, but the vast majority of his successful work was in power shots and pot-shots and explosive flurries from the outside then stepping in, as per usual. he certainly wasn't 'counterpunching' like a JMM. actually it seems anyone who moves around a lot gets labelled a counterpuncher when often they are just pot-shotting on the outside

the key is what happens when their opponent is throwing, in Inoue's case IIRC if his opponent is throwing, he's moving his feet (too often back and in a straight line for my liking, FWIW), he isn't staying in the pocket and giving head-slips and pull-counters and working off the opponet's offence, he;s using his feet to make space and re-set himself. i don't recall him genuinely countering more against Kono than in other fights, he was just using the ring more

FWIW i can see why someone would say a good pressure fighter may be his kryptonite, i think he has mostly had things his own way and i could see him shipping shots if put under sustained pressure, like i say feet going straight back, and I would like to see him move his head and from the waist more. FWIW

[lefty]

Might just want to watch some of his other bouts...I advise the Yuki Sano one, where he fought much of the fight with 1 hand, or the Kono fight, which he fought mostly as a counter puncher

i don't agree he fought as a counterpuncher against Kono, if by counterpuncher we mean someone who punches on the counter, taking advantage of openings when his opponent throws. against Kono IIRC he fought more on the back foot than usual, used more lateral movement and took more of a 'boxer's approach, but the vast majority of his successful work was in power shots and pot-shots and explosive flurries from the outside then stepping in, as per usual. he certainly wasn't 'counterpunching' like a JMM. actually it seems anyone who moves around a lot gets labelled a counterpuncher when often they are just pot-shotting on the outside

the key is what happens when their opponent is throwing, in Inoue's case IIRC if his opponent is throwing, he's moving his feet (too often back and in a straight line for my liking, FWIW), he isn't staying in the pocket and giving head-slips and pull-counters and working off the opponet's offence, he;s using his feet to make space and re-set himself. i don't recall him genuinely countering more against Kono than in other fights, he was just using the ring more

FWIW i can see why someone would say a good pressure fighter may be his kryptonite, i think he has mostly had things his own way and i could see him shipping shots if put under sustained pressure, like i say feet going straight back, and I would like to see him move his head and from the waist more. FWIW

Time will tell I guess lol.

[Counter-puncher]

time has already told, he doesn't really 'counter-punch'

[lefty]

time has already told, he doesn't really 'counter-punch'

There's varying degrees of counter punching though. Some who do it consistently like a JMM and then there's others who throw counters more sporadically. I don't think it's quite as black and white as you're making it out to be.

[lefty]

He is predominantly an offensively minded fighter though and leads 80+ percent of the time, but he can land some sneaky counter's. He's got a wicked jab though, that's for sure. I think that Rungvisai would really struggle with the speed more than anything.

[Counter-puncher]

time has already told, he doesn't really 'counter-punch'

There's varying degrees of counter punching though. Some who do it consistently like a JMM and then there's others who throw counters more sporadically. I don't think it's quite as black and white as you're making it out to be.

if when your opponent throws you always either move away or cover up, whatever you're doing isn't really counterpunching, maybe 'box-moving' potshotting, boxing off the back foot or whatever, but IMO an actual 'counterpunch' apropos taking advantage of an opening created by an opponent throwing a punch to land one yourself is necessary to be 'counterpunching'. I accept i am above-average anal on this question, however.

[Counter-puncher]

He is predominantly an offensively minded fighter though and leads 80+ percent of the time, but he can land some sneaky counter's. He's got a wicked jab though, that's for sure. .

i watched three or four random minutes of the Kono fight to check just now, didn't see him throw a single counter when Kono was throwing.

[Counter-puncher]

and yeah his jab is beautiful, tremendous leverage, speed and snap on it

[crusader]

He dropped Kono in the 6th with a series of counter left hooks

[Boxing Prospect]

He dropped Kono in the 6th with a series of counter left hooks

Also worth noting that his KO over the Thai chap early in his career came from a vicious counter too.

[Counter-puncher]

He dropped Kono in the 6th with a series of counter left hooks

sure, but (not to labour the point haha) if you take the 5th and 6th rounds (which I watched against last night), he throws counters i am pretty sure a total of 4 times when under attack- a vicious counter right uppercut to the body early in the 5th and a counter right uppercut to the head after, he tries the same uppercut on the counter once or twice in that round, but other than that for the last 4-5 minutes of the fight the final counter left hooks are the only counters he throws when under attack, Kono quite frequently presses and flurries and almost invariably Inoue either covers up or moves. thats someone who throws some counters rather than someone who fought a counterpunching fight. again I stress i am being anal on this.