Naoya Inoue: Boxing Fundamentals 101

LET’S examine why Inoue is as good as he is and why many consider him one of the best fighters in boxing today.

Certainly, he is already one of the all-time greats from Japan and Asia.

If you look at Inoue’s fighting style, he does many things very well.

He does the basics and fundamentals maybe as good as anyone in boxing at the moment when putting them all together to make a complete fighter.

He is never flat-footed, always with a slight bounce in his movement, but very powerful when he briefly plants his feet to release his power.

He is rarely out of balance or his feet out of position. Rather, he opens up his body and legs to turn through the shots while still in balance with his heels slightly raised.

So he can get his combinations off quickly and step off, pivot, and move to the side immediately after throwing punches—so as not to be caught square on with a counter regarding anything coming back his way in exchanges.

He’s usually not there to be hit in the pocket at close quarters (most of the time).

When he is boxing fluidly, he uses the jab to set up attacks both to the head and body. The jab is a powerful punch in his arsenal on its own merit when he throws it snappy or sometimes as a heavy thud to keep his opponent at range or off balance.

He is very compact and slim in frame, not presenting much of a target for his opponent to hit while keeping his guard high, bending the knees ever so slightly, and turning through his full body weight into snappy, crisp punches upon execution.

He mixes up his attacks to the body and head very well and is not afraid to throw light shots or feints to draw his opponent onto something heavier.

However, what’s really impressive, fundamentally, about him when in full flow is his lightning-fast feet and ability to step out and step back, whether throwing and landing a distance range-finding jab or full-blooded combinations.

He is always cognizant of what’s coming back for the most part, and his sense of distance is quite brilliant. Whether cutting the ring off, closing the distance, or, on occasion, boxing on the back foot and mixing up his side-to-side movements to frazzle his opponent.

He has, at times, been drawn into scraps when he doesn’t need to, getting caught with shots he shouldn’t have, and even then, he has proved he can arise again after getting decked and, in fact, win by flattening his opponent in the very same fight.

His next fight with TJ Doheny will present that temptation again. Doheny would love to get him involved in a toe-to-toe war, which is essentially his best chance of success in the bout.

Inoue is too smart for that now, though, and represents a new golden age of boxing in Japan, so it is highly unlikely he will take unnecessary risks moving forward.

Overall, Inoue is a complete fighting machine.