Trainer, commentator and fight analyst, Teddy Atlas, has made his pick for who should be considered as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet after last week’s ground-breaking performances from both Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford.
Inoue brutally knocked out Stephen Fulton to become the unified super-bantamweight champion and hold world honours at his fourth weight-class. Beginning his career as a light-flyweight, not only has ‘The Monster’ been successful between 108lbs-122lbs, but he has continued to knock his opponents out and upheld his reputation as a power-puncher in each and every division.
Meanwhile, ‘Bud’ Crawford finally took part in the long-awaited undisputed welterweight title clash with Errol Spence Jr, dominating his rival in what turned out to be a completely one-sided affair. There have already been predictions that Crawford could have defeated a prime Floyd Mayweather after such a stellar display, with many fans labelling the 35-year-old as the fighter of our generation.
On his podcast, Atlas admitted that he has difficulty in labelling either man as the second-best in the world, but did say he couldn’t put anyone ahead of Crawford.
“I’ve got to tell you, Crawford and Inoue, you could make one of them #1 and the other #1A, is that fair? You could even interchange them! I can’t put anyone ahead of Crawford, I can’t! But, I could put Inoue right there, on the same shelf as him, I can put him right there at #1 and #1A.
The traits that Crawford has, Inoue has them; the ability, the intelligence, he’s calm, he has the eyes and instincts. He’s got all of that.”
Inoue is expected to fight for the undisputed 122lb title next, against Marlon Tapales, whilst Crawford is likely to rematch Spence, possibly at 154lbs.