Naoya Inoue’s devastating stoppage over Nonito Donaire has had a significant impact on DAZN’s Pound for Pound rankings.
With many in the hoxing community expecting another exciting encounter between the Asian pair, Inoue was in no mood to wait around as he destroyed Donaire in two one-sided rounds leaving the legendary Filipino to consider his next move.
Inoue started the contest in a menacing manner as he scored regularly with jabs and left hooks. With Donaire concentrating on evading such shots, he left himself exposed to Inoue’s right hand and was dropped at the end of the first session.
Inoue continued his attack in this he second round and after dropping Donaire again, the bout was halted.
The impressive performance means that Inoue has leapfrogged Canelo Alvarez at number three in the DAZN ratings.
The Mexican’s loss to Dmitry Bivol last month caused a huge shock in boxing and the result saw Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford move above Canelo. Inoue’s recent win moves him into the top three and it’s now up to Canelo to re-stake his claim at the pinnacle of these subjective rankings when he faces Gennadiy Golovkin this September, live on DAZN in most parts of the world (check for availability here).
For the full rundown of the latest men's pound-for-pound top-10, click here.