6 ft 1 Featherweight Rafael Espinoza Is The Only One Who Can Beat Naoya

[daggum]

most of the time these tall lanky guys go down in a heap

[Elheath]

Won't know till it happens, because he is the fan favorite, people are making arguments on how Naoya will find a way to beat Espinoza, stating he will fold to the power as he shown to be vulnerable against Ramirez, or how he struggles to cut weight despite that he hasn't failed missing weight at any fight yet.

Robeisy is the complete package himself in terms of skill and ability while actually physically belonging at 126. Won't say Espinoza is unbeatable, but feel like people don't realize how quite more difficult to handle these two featherweight champions will be, having less deficiencies than let's say Fulton's lack of power or Nery's porous defense while having a definite size advantage over Naoya Inoue.

it be quite interesting if these fights happen in the future and Inoue should be given plenty credit if happens to win after moving up 5 divisions, but I wouldn't say he be able perform the same way he has done in the past until he actually does it at 126.

The Espinoza-Robeisy II that is supposed to happen next(?) will definitely answer a lot of questions regarding the true skills and ability of Espinoza. All credit to Espinoza for gutting out the first fight, but playing pessimist one can say that was also the first time he fought a world level notable opponent and was a huge mystery for Robeisy as well, who definitely didn't have a good fight plan possibly due to lack of data. As the reigning beltholder and more eyes on him now, if Espinoza wins the rematch convincingly I'd say he is the de facto number one of 126 and it definitely could happen. However the chance of him getting KOed by Robeisy bodyshot is also just as possible to happen.

Right now Espinoza could be anything between a legit freak monster giant among the lighter divisions who will reign as a number one 126 champion long term with insane height, reach, power and skills, or simply a super skinny tall dude who built his record off eating local Mexican no names until he was close to 30 and just had the once in a lifetime fight with heart supporting the total surprise factor that could only be used once to win a belt, and once the book got out on him against world level guys he was easy picking.