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Asian Boxing Realities Post Pacquiao Part Three: Who is Now Asia's Best Fighter? By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Fri, 12 Nov 2021  When he was still fighting, there's no doubt Manny Pacquiao was Asia's best fighter, the face that represented the East in the US, the undisputed boxing capital of the world. Even when he was already old and aging and some say fading or faded, the recognition and respect lingered on with his reputation obviously preceding him despite the fact that he was no longer in the Ring's prestigious top ten best pound for pound list and Japanese Monster bantamweight Naoya Inoue, and later fellow overperforming countryman, Kazuto Ioka, are. But Manny Pacquiao has officially bade goodbye for good and for keeps to boxing last August following nearly thirty years of prizefighting spanning a record four decades, 90s, 2000s, 2010s and the 2020s where he earned the distinction as the first and only boxer to win a record eight world boxing championships in as many weight divisions. Apart from leaving a huge void that even current lone boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez would be hard pressed to fill, Manny Pacquiao's departure from the fight sport, left the question, who is Asia's best fighter now? The face who best represents the whole continent to the world? The obvious answer is of course, Naoya Inoue. Apart from being in the top three in the Ring Magazine's and most other rating organizations pound for pound best fighters in the world, a few even rating him as top one, Naoya remains undefeated as now world champion in three weight classes, the latest being in the 118 lbs bantamweight where he is the unified WBA-IBF titleholder. But unlike Pacquiao who rose to as high as the super welterweight or 154 lbs in his storied career, Naoya's exploits and conquests have been achieved in the lower weight divisions which largely have been under the radar of both fans and impresarios especially in the US and the West. Naoya also earlier fought and won his big title fights in Japan, including against Chris McDonnell, Juan Carlos Payano and Nonito Donaire. Though Naoya won a few major career defining fights and in highly impressive manner outside of Japan, for example over Puerto Rican Emmanuel Rodriguez in the UK and his first US fight against Antonio Nieves, those were not enough to make him a global brand name or truly a crossover star. His struggling though still very impressive win over Donaire in November 2019 right in his own backyard while named as that year's Best Fight, also did not inspire confidence of a fighter winning more fans in the US and worldwide. These have prompted his then new promoter, the Hall of Famer promoter par excellence Bob Arum to decide to reintroduce him again to the American fans beginning in April 2020 with more fights coming. As a grand reintroduction, Arum even planned to pit Naoya against another rising Asian star, then new WBO world bantamweight champion Johnriel Casimero of the Philippines. Casimero impressively wrested the crown by knocking out the then highly touted South African Zolani Tete, until before his ignominious defeat another of Naoya's fancied foe. It appeared that everything was set for Naoya's grand US reintroduction when the Coronavirus pandemic hit prompting a halt to boxing and almost any human activities in the US and elsewhere. When boxing eventually returned in the US and Arum himself was instrumental in its early comeback, lo and behold, Naoya's supposed grand reintroduction fight versus Casimero was no more. Could it be Arum or Inoue, or both realized that after the euphoria of Inoue"s epic win against Donaire, they could be up against a very dangerous and unpredictable foe in Casimero? Though both Arum and Inoue officially denied it, the very fact that both agreed on a foe coming virtually out of the blue, Australia's Jason Moloney served to bolster the suspicion of some that they had cold feet regarding the Casimero fight. Arum claimed that due to the then limitations in live arena boxing in the US, the Inoue vs Casimero fight could only be viable if both protagonists would agree to a drastic pay cut. He said Inoue was amenable to it and that he would ask Casimero to agree to the same while setting a specific deadline for the Filipino to respond to his new proposal. A little while later, Arum announced that Inoue would be fighting Moloney instead of Casimero, insinuating that the Filipino and his camp rejected his proposal. In a later blog, Casimero furiously denied that Arum ever communicated with them all those times, never showed up personally for talks or even send email on the matter. Casimero was very angry because Arum apparently left his group to dry being already in the US as early as February and had to ride out the pandemic stranded there for some more months waiting for Inoue"s arrival to firm things up with Arum. All for nothing. Johnriel said he was so riled up at the seeming double cross that he was quoted as saying he had wanted to punch the old guy in the face once their path crossed at that time. What bolstered the suspicion that Arum wanted to settle for a less dangerous opponent for Naoya in his supposed US reintroduction was the fact that Moloney, while somehow also deserving owing to his then world rating and then ongoing fight winning streak, had previously been defeated by Emmanuel Rodriguez, a man that Inoue dispatched in just two rounds! So, Inoue went on to win his US reintroduction fight, stopping Moloney in seven rounds after decking the hapless Aussie for the second time in their somewhat competitive bout. If the discriminating fans that both Arum and Inoue had wanted to sparkle in their eyes with the fight and the win over Moloney were impressed themselves is best left to conjectures. As there seems to be no huge demand for an Inoue encore. In fact, Inoue further added his own lost momentum in the US ring by choosing to make another defense back in Japan against another obscure foe, Thailand's Aran Dipaen with an impressive 11 KOs in 12 wins but had already been beaten twice before. How can that fight help Naoya and Arum gain more credence with the US and global fans is also best left to conjectures. It appeared earlier that the sought after konfrontasi with Casimero would finally happen as after being riled by the Filipino's taunting social media posts, Naoya himself posted pleading for anybody to arrange the fight. Obviously Arum did not budge. With Naoya just holding two belts at bantamweight, a division that has yet to fully regain wide acceptance in the US since the time of Donaire and Abner Mares, his work is cut out for him---with Casimero and Donaire himself, now again the WBC titlist, standing in his way. And most probably, Uzbek Murodjon MJ Akhmaladiev, the unified WBA-IBF super bantamweight champion who has himself taken the US ring by storm in the immediate horizon. Who is Asia's best fighter now? That's also subject to debate. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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