A lot of people are giving Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev a terrific chance of upsetting Naoya “Monster” Inoue this Sunday in Nagoya, Japan.

Can’t blame them for thinking that way.

In his last fight, Inoue had to pick himself up from the floor before taking out Ramon Cardenas of Mexico.

Cardenas who?

Yeah, some ordinary Mexican guy sent Inoue crashing down.

But it’s boxing and things happen.

Regardless how good you are, there are some guys out there who can take you down and leave you embarrassed.

So could Akhmadaliev get the job done?

Of course, he could.

It would take a superhuman effort to do it and a not-so-conditioned Inoue answering the bell for Akhmadaliev to post an earth-shaker.

But considering his style and his physical attributes, that happening this weekend is quite remote.

Despite his apparent slip, Inoue remains a very good fighter. Still a pound-for-pound No 1 or No. 2. Super elite.

The thing is, the guy who is likely to land the first telling blow is going to be the Japanese.

And there lies the problem.

Anyone who gets hit squarely by Inoue won’t withstand the impact of the blow.

Akhmadaliev, a native of Uzbekistan, is right there to be hit. Right there to be hit hard.

There’s nobody right now — with the exception of John Riel Casimero — who has a genuine chance of crushing the Monster.

But again, this is another story.

And for Casimero to land an Inoue payday would require more.

There’s just so many moving parts right now that Casimero is not even on Inoue’s radar screen.

But back to the Akhmadaliev-Inoue showdown, I would say that it is very unlikely that it will go the distance considering the principals involved.

Akhmadaliev isn’t showing up for the sake of getting a fat paycheck.

He comes to fight.

And that is the reason why Inoue’s emerging victorious once again.