Boxing analyst picks Terence Crawford over Naoya Inoue as pound-for-pound best

Veteran boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino is convinced that three-division champion Terence Crawford is now the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world following his technical knockout over Errol Spence Jr. this past weekend in Las Vegas.

There were talks that the no.1 pound-for-pound spot, currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, could be up for grabs depending on how Naoya Inoue performed against Stephen Fulton and on Crawford's own performance against Spence. Currently, Crawford sits at no. 3 and Inoue at no. 2.

"Naoya Inoue is something else from 108 pounds to 122 pounds while Terence Crawford is a three-division champion and undisputed twice," Tolentino said in an interview on Sparring Sessions.

"Right now it is a close call in my opinion, but I am going to go with Terence Crawford. Why? Because Inoue struggled against an old [Nonito] Donaire though he [easily] defeated him in the rematch by blowing him away in two rounds."

With both fighters surpassing expectations and winning by stoppages, Tolentino feels that Crawford is slightly ahead in the race only because the Japanese four-division champion went the full twelve rounds against Donaire back in 2019.

"We saw flaws [in Inoue] while we have not seen such from Crawford. Sure, he got hurt, but he never came close to actually losing a fight. I will go for Crawford in what I believe is a very tight race for no.1 pound-for-pound," Tolentino explained.

Crawford's win over Spence made him the first boxer in history to become undisputed champion in two weight classes in the four-belt era.

Inoue, the WBC and WBO world super bantamweight titleholder, will have a chance to accomplish the same feat when he fights WBA and IBF world super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales later this year.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News