By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

This was a tight fight as Inoue barely defeated Juno Nakatani, a battle between the two best 122-pound fighters but Naoya Inoue found a way to win a close bout. Inoue is now 33 and the question is he still at his peak or on the downside of his career. However, in this fight, Inoue found a way to win a competitive tough fight. Momentum shift. at a crucial part when Nakatani suffered a cut from a head butt and Inoue moved forward to win the last two rounds. Inoue noted, “I fought thinking it would be alright to hold back a little and concede some points. Today, my mental stamina was depleted. That’s how tense the 12 rounds were. It was a technical battle of hitting and missing, hitting, and missing. We were both enjoying it. It was an enjoyable fight.”

Inoue reflected on the fight, “I’m not sure about if this fight means history yet, but in the future, we might think this is the day history was made. My boxing career isn’t at the end. We just finished the fight, so I think I’m going to have great history in the future. I hope I can make history more and more.” 

The fight was in front of 55,000 strong crowd in Tokyo Dome and while the opening rounds were two reluctant warriors feeling each other out but in the fourth round, Inoue used his jab more effectively, and he came on strong in the fifth and sixth round. Nakatani started to counter in the seventh round by hitting combinations. Nakatani’s corner advise him to get more aggressive and let his hands go. Nakatani pushed the issue in the ninth as he faced more precise Inoue movement which kept the rounds close.

In the tenth round, Nakatani suffered a cut following a clash of heads and while it didn’t deter his efforts in the tenth round, Inoue did take advantage in the eleventh round as he ramped up the pressure and landed two big uppercuts with both hands as the blood bothered Nakatani from the cut. The judges scored 116-112, 115-113, 116-112 all in favor of the champion. I had it 115-113. 

Inoue landed 140 punches to 120 for Nakatani over the 12 rounds, maybe two more punches per round and the head butt certainly was a factor in the final two rounds. Inoue is the pound for pound now that Terrance Crawford retired.

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

This bout between Canelo Alveraz and Terrance Crawford, two of the better pound for pound fighters over the past generation and while many favored the boxing technician Crawford, Alvarez was the natural bigger fighter. Alveraz was the bigger fighter and younger fighter, and he has been fighting professionally since he was a teenager. As one person noted, he had more knockouts than Crawford had wins.

Crawford won 19 championship bouts whereas Alveraz won 23 so they were two of the more dominant fighters. I remember when Mayweather out boxed Alvarez despite being the smaller fighter but that was a younger Alvarez, and the present Alvarez was the natural bigger fighter and more experienced since the Mayweather fight, while Crawford won the intern WBO intern championship against Israil Madrimov but hardly impressive event in his first attempt in the junior Middleweight.

The first round saw Crawford moving and boxing, landing clean combinations as Alvarez tries to slow Crawford with body shots including a left. Second round saw Crawford giving Alvarez different look as he eats Crawford jabs to get body shots. Crawford jab may have won the second round, and I had it 20-18. Round three saw Crawford landing with jabs and even a body shots plus a left hook flush on Alvarez face while Alvarez landing left hook to the body. After three rounds, it is close, but I will give Crawford the edge in all three rounds. From this point, it is a question if Alvarez will eventually impose his will on the smaller Crawford. So, in the early going, it was not the case.

Crawford moved Alvarez back with a left as he picks up the pace in the fourth round. Alvarez lands a right to the body and head but so far at this point Crawford appeared to have the advantage and 40-36 after four rounds. Round five saw Alvarez move his upper body and defend him out of harm’s way of Crawford harder shots but while Crawford nailed Alvarez with a right, Alvarez may have won the hand with a hook to the body. It was 49-46. Sixth round saw both men exchanging punches and in the early part of the round, Crawford was beathing Alvarez to the punch. Alvarez landed a big shot to the body, but Crawford landed his own left hand and even ripped a shot or two to the body. Halfway through the fight I had it 59-55 but never underestimate Alvarez ability to gain close rounds on the judges score card.

Round seven still sees Crawford frustrating Alvarez as Crawford is countering Alvarez inside punching. Alvarez cornered Crawford but Crawford landed uppercut and circles away. In some ways it reminded me of how Mayweather also frustrated Alvarez. 69-64. Eighth round is close as Alvarez works his way on the inside, but Crawford is returning fire and while this was a close round judges may have given this to Alverez, but I gave it to Crawford 79-73. Ninth round may have been Crawford best at this point as he peeled off combinations that snaped Alvarez head back and during an attempt by Alvarez to counter his head collided with Crawford, opening a small gash over Crawford head. Alvarez hands a hard combination ending with a solid right but Crawford nails Alvarez with a short left and his movement stalled Alvaraz with three rounds left I had it 89-82 and it would appear that Alvarez needed a knockout on my card.

Crawford movement appears to be bewildered Alvarez, and his combinations is slowing the bigger man advances. Crawford won the round 99-91. The eleventh round another round that I had Crawford winning with combinations as Alvarez was taking two punches to land his one and at this point, Crawford was winning but there are few close rounds, and this is Vegas in which the judges may give Alvarez the benefit. Finat round saw Crawford landing combinations as Alvarez tried for one big punch to end the fight in his favor. As he lunged, Crawford nailed Alvarez with a right hand and land combinations. As the bell rang to end the fight, Crawford staggered Alvarez. I had the fight 119-109 in Crawford favor while the judges had the fight closer 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112, this was a virtuosa performance by Crawford.

At the age of 37, he moved up to Alvarez’s weigh and won against the bigger man. Most of the unofficial scorecards had Crawford winning big. ESPN had 118-110, 10 rounds to 2 and I had it 11 rounds to one. When you look at Compubox, it was a close fight with Crawford landing 115-99 but round by round, Alvarez had more punches landed in 6 rounds to Crawford 5 with one even, but Crawford landed more jabs and threw more punches while he was close in landing power shots 70 to Alvarez 83. Alvarez never had Crawford in trouble but there was couple of times that Alvarez was staggered. While I gave many close rounds to Crawford, part of it was Crawford constant movement and being more active but there were rounds close enough to reward them to Alvarez. Alvarez was given a few more close rounds that I rewarded Alvarez with, and I have no problem with that. Boxing can be a subjective sport to score but the judges did have the winner right.

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Naoya Inoue is one of the greatest fighters of this generation and certainly ranks as one of the greatest, period! In a weekend in which great fights were promised but failed to deliver, this one did. The first round was feeling round in which the underdog Cardenas got in a few jabs as Inoue was looking to see what Cardenas had. Cardenas showed a quick jab.

Cardenas launched a combination at the beginning of the second round while Inoue used his jab, body and head shot against his opponent. Cardenas began to push the action and near the end of the round, he put Inoue down with a sharp left hook. 

Cardenas continued to move forward and using his defense to avoid the big Inaoue shots and Inoue found himself in a fight and Cardenas deliver combinations while Inoue found himself open to the counters. After three rounds 29-27 in favor Cardenas.

The fourth round was Inoue best of the first four round as he moved forward out boxing Cardenas and forced Cardenas  to retreat.38-37 still in favor Cardenas. The fifth round was closer as Inoue continued to pursue his opponent, but Cardenas successfully countered to make the round close but Inoue even the fight on my score card.

The sixth round saw Inoue dominating the round and punish Cardenas throughout the round and for the first time, Inoue showed the domination expected and halfway through the fight, Cardenas was behind 57-56.  Very few thought this fight would last this long.

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

On Friday night, May 2, 2025, it was boxing in New York Times Square, however the Haney -Ramirez and Garcia-Romero were setting records for some of the lowest boxing CompuBox stats.  Most fans would been better off people watching in Times Square or watching paint dry than either of those two matches.

Teofimo Lopez faced the undefeated Arnold Barboza, jr. in the WBO super lightweight  championship.  Barboza entered the fight after a split decision victory over Jack Catterall and there was still concern if Lopez will be able to reach his full potential, This fight, he defeated a slick undefeated boxer rather easily as Lopez won the bout 116-112, 16-112, and 118-110.

Barboza has been looking forward to fighting Lopez, but it was obvious that he was not yet ready to fight Lopez.

Lopez boxing skills were on display as he slipped punches and proved elusive while he landed counters. Barboza tried to jab his inside, but this proved ineffectual as he landed only 38 jabs versus 54 jabs for Lopez.  Lopez had rhythm and even did a little showboating while Barboza landed only 16 percent of his punches. (In fairness and while he was more accurate, Lopez landed only  22.1 percent.)

Lopez landed 127 punches versus only 71 punches for Barboza, nearly five punches more punches per round than his opponents and  landed more than double power shots.  Lopez boxing superiority and powerful right hand prove decisive and he by himself threw more punches than Haney and Ramierz combined, and more than Garcia-Rolando combined in their fight.

Lopez goal is now take on Jaron Ennis.

CompuBox Punch Stats