Coppinger believes Oleksandr Usyk’s difficult fight with Rico Verhoeven ended the pound-for-pound debate
Mike Coppinger believes Naoya Inoue is now clearly boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter following Oleksandr Usyk’s difficult victory over Rico Verhoeven in Egypt. The debate intensified after Usyk struggled through several rounds before stopping Verhoeven in the 11th round.
Usyk retained his heavyweight titles with an 11th-round stoppage victory over the kickboxing champion at the Pyramids of Giza, but the fight immediately sparked criticism after many observers felt Verhoeven had been ahead before the stoppage.
Coppinger said he no longer sees a real argument against Inoue holding the top spot.
“And the Ring moved Inoue up number one over Usyk after the win over Nakatani,” said Coppinger to the InsideRingShow. “And I thought still maybe it was a coin flip. Now you have to say that Inoue is definitely number one. Usyk’s number two. I’m not going to move him lower than number two right now.”
The comments came after the panel spent much of the show debating Usyk’s performance and the controversial ending. At one point, Coppinger revealed he had Usyk winning only two rounds heading into the 11th before the stoppage.
Max Kellerman also questioned whether the 39-year-old Usyk may finally be starting to slow down after years of fighting naturally bigger heavyweights.
“Now you have to say that Inoue is definitely number one,” Coppinger repeated while discussing the updated pound-for-pound order.
Inoue strengthened his own position earlier this month with a dominant victory over fellow unbeaten star Junto Nakatani in one of the biggest lower-weight fights in years. The Japanese star remains unbeaten and continues to collect titles across multiple divisions.
Usyk is still widely viewed as the best heavyweight in the world, but his struggle against Verhoeven added fuel to the growing belief that Inoue has separated himself at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings.
