RINGSIDE
Both Inoue and Crawford made history. Both proved to be elite-level boxers. But The Monster did a little bit more, to the chagrin of Bud’s boosters. Inoue did a lot more than Crawford in 2025 in terms of sheer activity, but the overall quality of his opposition was not as high as it was in 2023. Had all four of his challengers been legitimate contenders, I likely would have considered him the cream of the 2025 crop. However, his first two opponents of the year – Ye Joon Kim and Ramon Cardenas – were not Ring- rated at the time. In Inoue’s defense, Kim was a late substitute (for Sam Goodman) and was needed to keep the January fight date as well as his four-bout schedule for the year, while Cardenas – who is now in The Ring’s 122-pound rankings – turned out to be a card- carrying badass. Regardless, Inoue was a ridiculous favorite (as much as -1000) going into both bouts. Near shutout decisions vs. former unified titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev and unbeaten contender
was impressive in 2025 – defending his undisputed junior featherweight championship four times. The main argument for Inoue as the 2025 Fighter of the Year is, of course, his activity. And, as my longtime colleague Steve Kim is fond of saying, “activity matters.” It’s the reason Inoue beat out Crawford in 2023, according to The Ring, ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America. However, it wasn’t a slam-dunk choice. Crawford was a very close runner-up. As he did in 2025, the Omaha native put forth a sublime performance in the biggest U.S. boxing event – his emphatic ninth- round stoppage of Errol Spence Jr., who entered the showdown as an undefeated unified titleholder, The Ring’s No. 1-rated welterweight and No. 4 in the pound-for-pound rankings. However, four days prior to Crawford’s greatest triumph to date, Inoue scored one of the best wins of his future Hall of Fame career, an eighth-round stoppage of previously
Alan Picasso in his other two bouts of 2025, while not as exciting as his KO of Kim or his shootout with Cardenas, were elite-level performances vs. world- class opposition. I should note that Inoue’s original plan for 2025 was to defend against then-unbeaten Goodman (No. 3 in The Ring’s 122-pound rankings at the time) in January, then Picasso (No. 5 at the start of 2025) in May, and then Akhmadaliev (No. 2) in September, with an option for a fourth bout. Had he gone that route and faced a fourth Ring-rated junior featherweight, such as Shabaz Masoud (No. 6 at the beginning of 2025) or Sebastian Hernandez (No. 10 at the start of the year), I think he might have legitimately edged out Crawford for Fighter of the Year. As it was, Inoue was the first champion to make four defenses of the Ring Magazine title in a calendar year since Larry Holmes did it in 1983. It’s an impressive stat. But in 2025, it was Crawford who did more with less. And with his retirement
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unbeaten unified 122-pound titleholder Stephen Fulton.
The Fulton victory silenced The Monster’s critics who claimed he hadn’t fought anyone of note and predicted that he would be “exposed” by the skilled American. Adding to the significance of the one-sided victory was that it was the junior featherweight debut for Inoue, who had ended 2022 as the undisputed bantamweight champion. In his first bout of his fourth weight class, Inoue took on The Ring’s No. 1-rated 122-pounder. In his second bout of 2023, he beat down No. 2-rated Marlon Tapales, holder of the other 122-pound belts, to a 10th-round stoppage and undisputed champion status in his second division.
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The great Inoue made his fourth defense of 2025 against Alan Picasso.
14 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
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