BoxingScene.com's 2014 Fighter of The Year
Posted by: Jake Donovan on 12/31/2014 .
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By Jake Donovan
Chances are, World lightweight king Terence Crawford was sound asleep in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, December 30, while a young rising star in the lower weight classes entered a boxing ring 15 time zones away on the other side of the world.*
Assuming so, then that would mean by the time he woke up, he discovered that something was missing – the Fighter of the Year crown that most believed was secure in his possession.
That’s how brilliant the finishing touches were on the year that was for Japan’s Naoya Inoue, BoxingScene.com’s unanimous choice for 2014 Fighter of the Year.
The closest race in recent memory was also a reminder to all news outlets that there are 365 days in a year, and that the year doesn’t end just because editors prefer to coast during the holiday season.
In all fairness, Inoue wasn’t necessarily on the radar for most of the year, at least not until he agreed to move up two divisions to challenge longtime 115 lb. titlist Omar Narvaez.
When 2014 began, all eyes – at least those familiar with career – were focused on simply what the next 12 months had in store for the prodigious star in the making. Inoue was barely 14 months into his career and months away from his 21s birthday when the year began, but the wheels were already in motion for what would be an unforgettable ride.
Plans were in place for a showdown with top-rated junior flyweight Adrian Hernandez, who agreed to travel from Mexico to Japan in April for a title defense. The all-action slugger from Mexico was a reigning two-time junior flyweight titlist, and regarded as the division’s best fighter.
That was before he ran into Inoue. Six very one-sided rounds later, Inoue had claimed his first belt in just his sixth pro fight.
Think about that for a minute: 20 years old (Inoue turned 21 six days later) just five pro fights to his name, while going up against the #1 rated junior flyweight in the world. Inoue treated the bout like a sparring session.
Aside from the elevated title status, the bout was similar to the rest of his career pattern to that point: dominating opposition with far more experience. To date, each of Inoue’s eight opponents had at least 20 fights (his second career opponent - Ngaoprajan Chuwatana – fighting his 20th pro bout the night of the fight). The win over Hernandez was expected, from an odds perspective, but still eye opening that he could be that good at such a young age.
Still, it was just another notable win as far as boxing pundits were concerned.
Nor was much thought given to his first defense, an 11th round stoppage of Samartiek Kokietgym in September. The most noteworthy tidbit about the fight was the one to which it served as chief support. If a Fighter of the Year candidate had emerged from the evening, it was in the main event when Róman Gonzalez captured the World lineal flyweight championship after stopping reigning king Akira Yaegashi inside of nine rounds.
Still, there was no clear-cut choice for the top spot by late October, around the time Inoue agreed to terms for a shot at Narvaez.
The fight meant moving up two weight classes to super flyweight, and thus severing all ties from the 108 lb. division. Neither task was much of a challenge for Inoue, who at 5’4” and just 21 years old was bound to outgrow junior flyweight in the near future.
But moving up two divisions to take on the best super flyweight in the world?
That’s worth talking about.
The thought of winning the fight in any fashion other than controversially was enough to put Inoue’s name in a mix that – by Thanksgiving weekend – would now include more popular choices such as Crawford, Gonzalez, unbeaten unified light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev.
Gonzalez added one more win to his 2014 campaign, scoring four knockouts in as many fights on the year after stopping Rocky Fuentes in six rounds. The win was the least significant result of a month that also included Kovalev’s 12-round shutout of Bernard Hopkins in a virtuoso performance, and Crawford’s dominant showing against Beltran to capture the vacant World lightweight championship.
If Inoue was to surface to the top, he would have to make a major statement against Narvaez, one that would force the boxing world to stand up and take notice, even with the handicap of his fight taking place in the middle of the week and – for publications and its staff members on this side of the world – in the wee hours of the morning.
Inoue’s blitzing of Narvaez was THAT dominant. It was one where even reading about it still didn’t serve it justice by the time you had the chance to chase down a YouTube video of the event and view for yourself.
Narvaez had never been stopped through more than 14 years as a pro, and came in having fought in 30 career title fights. His first taste of championship life came way back in 2002 – when Inoue was all of 9 years old – as a 12-round win over Adonis Rivas ignited an eight-year title reign covering 16 defenses before moving up to capture a title at super flyweight in 2010.
The only time a fighter was able to hang a loss on him was in Oct. ’11, when Nonito Donaire – regarded as one of the very best fighters in the world and coming off of one of the two best wins of his career at the time – easily outpointed him over 12 rounds in a bantamweight title fight.
Inoue cares about the credentials of his opponent only to the point where his handlers expect full credit once his work is done in the ring for that night. That’s to say, the young lion shows no fear once the opening bell sounds, nor does the thought of losing – or even conceding a single second of action – ever cross his mind.
This was a lesson that Narvaez would have to learn the hard way. Class was officially in session less than a minute into the opening round, when came the first of four knockdowns on the night. Inoue’s attack was akin to a freight train rolling downhill, scoring another knockdown moments later courtey of a left hook to the temple.
Narvaez’ only moral victory of the night was that he survived the opening round onslaught. It was the last time on the night he would make it back to his corner stool on his own terms.
With a championship and history well within sight, Inoue closed the show. Two more knockdowns came late in round two. The fourth and final trip to the canvas for Narvaez was a delayed reaction from a wicked body shot to ultimately put him down for the full ten count.
The night ended with Inoue capturing his second major title. He accomplished the feat in record-breaking fashion by doing so in just his eighth pro fight, the fastest run to two belts in boxing history.
The year ended with violent snatches of two crowns in two separate weight classes, both coming against the best fighter in the world in those respective divisions.
His 22nd birthday still more than three years away, there’s every reason to believe that the best is still yet to come for the unbeaten star on the rise. That can only mean more year-end accolades in his future, to go along with the well-deserved honor of becoming 2014 Fighter of the Year.