Compubox Analysis – Terence Crawford vs Naoya Inoue

Last week we witnessed two of the most complete boxing performances from two of the pound-for-pound stars this year, courtesy Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford.

On July 25 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo we saw the ‘Monster’ Naoya Inoue masterfully outbox, beat down and pulverise the previously undefeated unified super bantamweight world champion Stephen Fulton, scoring an 8th round TKO.

Inoue demonstrated not only his trademark power but his high-quality jab and impressive speed and footwork. Fast forward four days to Las Vegas the fight to decide the undisputed welterweight champion of the world, contested between Unified champion Errol Spence Jr, and WBO champion Terence Crawford.

What was seen as a 50/50 fight turned out to be a one-sided beatdown, resulting in Terence Crawford having his hand raised and making history becoming the first male to be undisputed in two weight classes.

CompuBox Offers Deeper Breakdown

Compubox statistics allow us to break down the performance and see how effective there two fighters were and how they compare to each other. Looking at the stats it’s clear to see why these two fighters are rated so highly.

The metrics used break down the individual stats and give us an insight into how each fighter operates. Both fighters landed a high amount of punches per round but the stats also show how the fighters’ styles differ.

Terence Crawford landed +6.1 jabs per round compared to Inoue’s +2.8, which reflects how the fights played out as Crawford relied on his jab to throw off Errol Spence and seemingly landed at will.

Inoue is known for his destructive power as he climbed the weight classes and landed more power punches per round than Crawford scoring +6.2 per round compared to Crawford’s +4.0 per pound. This isn’t to say Crawford isn’t a big puncher as he can clearly bang shown by 11 straight KO victories.

Unsurprisingly the Monster rather easily continued to find the mark with his power shots hurting Fulton through the fight.

The Monster Naoya Inoue impressed all mightily with his ultra thorough handling of Stephen Fulton

The man from Omaha, Nebraska known as a fighter who doesn’t waste his punches absolutely dominated Errol Spence; one key to his victory was his high output when it came to throwing and landing shots. He landed an impressive 20.9 punches per round against Spence.

Landing 9.8 jabs per round and 11.1 power punches per round it’s clear to see that Crawford’s jab was key to controlling the fight and keeping Spence at bay whilst also demonstrating his ability to throw and land hard power shots. The evidence could be seen on Spence’s bruised and battered face.

Terence Crawford Impressed Mightily With Punch Placement

Inoue trails Terence Crawford in all aspects when it comes to punches, jabs and power shot landed, according to this stats blast.

One could argue Inoue approached the fight in a more methodical manner, landing 15.3 punches per round, 5.9 of his jabs and 9.4 of his power punches, Crawford just had the higher work rate and scores better across the board with this data.

Not only does he trail in punches thrown, the stats paint a clear picture when it comes down to the efficiency of his punches, Terence Crawford clearly was the more economical fighter based on this performance landing 50.1% of his total punches compared to Inoue’s 30.1%.

Terence Crawford’s hand speed was far superior to Errol Spence Jr’s. Yeah, he was economical all right. Photo: Ryan Hafey, Premier Boxing Champions

Bud also landed more jabs and power shots at 42.2% and 60.1% respectively compared to Inoue’s 22.1% and 38.9%.

Performance-wise, even though Inoue put on a clinic, Crawford’s masterful showing highlighted to us that Bud really is in a league of his own if we were to compare the two performances.

The old adage defence is the best form of offence is often attached to the more defensive-minded fights, however Bud Crawford once again proved to be the masterful boxer evading 80% of Spence’s punches, 88.9% of the jabs thrown at him and 65.8% of Spence’s power sh*t, which frankly is insane to think about.

As hard as Spence tried he didn’t really land anything of note which is unlike him as he great breaking down his opponents with a variety of punches. This begs the question, was Spence having an off night or was Crawford just that good?

Answer: Crawford made an elite fighter look average and out of his depth. Inoue came in slightly behind Bud evading 78.9% of Fultons’ punches, 84.9%of his jabs and 66.2% of Fulton’s power punches.

This is not to knock the Monster’s performance, as he beat the bigger man in a new weight class. That was impressive enough, not to mention that no one has made Fulton second guess and not have a Plan B or Plan C at all, similar to Spence he made Fulton look nowhere near his level.

Inoue’s Stats Are Nothing To Sneeze At

It’s not all one way in terms of the stats, Crawford may have landed more jabs in total, but where Inoue shined was his body punching and landing the terrifying power punches.

This combination is a trademark of the Monster’s style and showed not only the Japanese faithful who fully backed their man but the world that Inoue is such an exciting figure to watch.

The speed, the movement and the timing were second to none, mesmerising at times, which Fulton had no answer for culminating in the brutal two knockdowns in round 8.

The stats paint a clear picture in that not only are these two boxers deservedly at the top of the pound for pound rankings but rose to the occasion on their biggest nights.

However, the stats don’t lie, Terence Crawford without a doubt stands on his own at the top of the sport his ruthless and accurate punching complex dismantled Spence and made him look average.

Don’t get me wrong, Inoue’s performance was great and he defeated the number one guy in his division. But the fact is Crawford’s performance was better and rightly so he ended the weekend as the undisputed welterweight champion and without a doubt the best boxer on the planet.

Opinions can differ but the numbers don’t lie Terence Crawford is the most complete fighter today and truly deserving of the title pound for pound number one.