For the rest of us, adding four or five pounds can happen because of a vacation weekend, a night of debauchery with friends or a dinner invitation to the newest Italian restaurant in town.
For a world-class boxer, moving up in weight can change their dominant form, alter their reputation, diminish their earning power.
So in these days as we reflect upon Japan’s undisputed 122-pound champion Naoya Inoue collecting the 2023 Fighter of the Year award from the Boxing Writers Association of America and ready for WBA 135-pound titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ Saturday night defense against Frank Martin in Las Vegas, the weight debate moves to the forefront.
Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) has already cleaned out the junior featherweight division, and there are moves happening at featherweight aimed at luring him to add the four pounds to move up in class.
Last week, Premier Boxing Champions signed former 122-pound champion Brandon Figueroa to a multi-fight extension and assigned him a title shot against WBC titleholder Rey Vargas, with the winner poised to pursue a unification fight against new WBA titlist Nick Ball (who fought Vargas to a draw earlier this year).
On Monday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” the cast debated Inoue’s position.
Hall of Fame former two-division champion Timothy Bradley Jr. said four-division champion Inoue, 31, may not need to move up again since his gifted countryman, WBC bantamweight titleholder Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs), is poised to move up himself for a megafight in Japan.
“That’s the guy … he’s got a strap, he’s Japanese. That style matchup would be spectacular,” Bradley said.
Former welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi validated the point.
“If they just hang around, rivals will show up. If this guy [Inoue is drawing] 55,000 [to the Tokyo Dome on May 6] against [Mexico’s Luis] Nery, imagine what Inoue versus Nakatani does,” Malignaggi said.
Inoue does have an IBF mandatory against Australia’s Sam Goodman to deal with, although an executive for his American promotional company Top Rank told BoxingScene on Monday that it’s “all TBD” with Inoue for now.
Yet the incentives for moving up and also taking some fights in America are also at hand to elevate his fame and fortune.
“It’s not like he’s taken a lot of punishment,” Bradley said. “He can move up. He has time. He doesn’t have wear and tear on him.”
Inoue said over the weekend that it depends on what his body will allow him to do, and former 140-pound titleholder Chris Algieri said that’s a valid explanation.
“In these smaller weight classes, it’s tough. He’s running out of time to move up and put on the proper physicality,” Algieri said.
And while Inoue is generating massive wealth in Japan, the potential to do more by increasing his fame in the U.S. is at hand.
Bradley said he watched Inoue appear at a Top Rank card inside The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday and get less attention than belt-less, power-punching super middleweight Edgar Berlanga.
“No one knows who he is. Nobody cared to be next to him. No pictures,” Bradley said. “I think he should come to America and get in this market. It’s up to him.”
Inoue has fought in the U.S. three times and has expressed indifference over the subject, although Bradley thought it said something that Inoue spoke English when accepting his award.
“He’s not into the fame thing. He’s a chill guy and he’s putting 55,000 into the Tokyo Dome,” Algieri said.
“Why sell himself short?” Bradley asked. “He has the option to come to the States and make even more money.”
Meanwhile, as Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) moves to his lightweight title defense against Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view, he also has to calculate whether a return to junior welterweight is necessary.
Davis won a title there previously against current WBC interim welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios, and the slew of popular and talented champions there – Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, Subriel Matias – makes the weight jump intriguing.
“I don’t see him moving up to 140. He’s making money [at lightweight] and doesn’t need those fights,” Algieri said.
Malignaggi said the Martin fight will “let us know where [Davis] is at.”
Bradley argued Davis has “yet to fight an A-level guy and should pass the [Martin] test because of his experience. … He lulls guys in and puts them to sleep.”
There’s an ideal bout at lightweight for Davis: IBF titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs).
“That’s the fight everyone is waiting on. If those two got in the ring, my goodness,” Bradley said. “That’s going to do huge numbers, pay-per-view-wise. If the version of Lomachenko we just saw [in knocking out former champion George Kambosos shows up] and if ‘Tank’ comes out clean Saturday, they could match up [this year].”
Algieri and Bradley said they’d like to see Martin press Davis, with Bradley saying he would like to know how Davis would perform if Martin knocks him down.
“I expect ‘Tank’ to win this fight,” Bradley said. “He has more experience and power.”
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