Naoya Inoue’s position as boxing’s #1 pound-for-pound fighter looks even stronger after Oleksandr Usyk’s tough night against Rico Verhoeven in Egypt.
While The Ring already moved Inoue ahead of Usyk earlier this month after his dominant win over Junto Nakatani, Mike Coppinger believes the debate is now over after Usyk’s controversial performance against Verhoeven.
Usyk retained his heavyweight titles with an 11th round stoppage over the kickboxing champion at the Pyramids of Giza, but the fight drew immediate criticism after many observers believed Verhoeven was ahead of the strike.
Coppinger said he no longer sees a real argument against Inoue holding the top spot.
“And the Ring moved Inoue up to number one over Usyk after the win over Nakatani,” Coppinger told the InsideRingShow. “And I still thought it might be a coin. Now you have to say Inoue is definitely number one. Usyk’s number two. I’m not going to move him lower than number two now.”
The comments came after the panel spent much of the show debating Usyk’s performance and the controversial finish. At one point, Coppinger revealed that he had only won Usyk two rounds en route to the 11th before the stoppage.
Max Kellerman also questioned whether the 39-year-old Usyk might finally be slowing down after years of fighting naturally bigger heavyweights.
“Now you have to say that Inoue is definitely number one,” Coppinger reiterated while discussing the updated pound-for-pound order.
Inoue cemented his own position earlier this month with a dominant win over fellow undefeated star Junto Nakatani in one of the biggest bantamweight fights in years. The Japanese star remains undefeated and continues to collect titles across multiple divisions.
Usyk is still widely regarded as the best heavyweight in the world, but his fight against Verhoeven added fuel to the growing belief that Inoue had separated himself at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings.
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Last updated on 2026/05/27 at 17:57
