You forget about Nery, as Inoue for the first time was sent into the canvass. He doesn't look hurt though, but it was the first time that he was caught with a counter and went down with a 8 count.
Against Tapales it was a back and forth fight, but it was obvious that Tapales doesn't have any knockout power and that's why even if he hit Inoue openly, Inoue just brushed that shot and was not affected. While his total accumulation of volume on Tapales was too much specially those body shots that took it's damage overtime.
Nery, Fulton and Tapales were all very good opponents, so it is not like Inoue is only fighting cab drivers. It is just that everything looks like a mismatch when you are so superior. Even if he moved to featherweight, we would see more of the same. He already beat Fulton and Nick Ball looked very average against Doheny, who Inoue already beat easily. Espinoza and Leo aren’t at the elite level either, so even if he fought those champions there will still be critics who say he is cherry picking.
I like the Leo fight though for Inoue, this is going to be a big test for him when he decided to move up in featherweight. And I can also say that there is some hype on Leo specially on how he beat the former champion Luis Lopez.
But Leo has to defend his belt against the mandatory in a Japanese fighter, Kameda so that is a banger of a fight as well. Rey Vargas might be a good test for Inoue as he hasn't fought the likes of a very tall and lanky fighter. So everything makes exciting for us if Inoue will go up in weight class after winning against Ramon Cardenas.