Subscribe
Follow Us
Bob Arum heaped some massive praise on Naoya Inoue.
Inoue recently became a four-division champion after knocking out the previously unbeaten Stephen Fulton to win the WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles late last month.
Although he was quickly overshadowed by Terence Crawford's win over Errol Spence Jr., there's no doubt that the undefeated Japanese superstar is number two on the pound-for-pound list at the very least.
And for Arum, he believes Inoue may even be better than Manny Pacquiao during his prime.
“Inoue is a tremendous, tremendous fighter, like we’ve never seen before, maybe since Manny Pacquiao—probably better than Pacquiao was,” the Top Rank Boxing promoter told Little Giant Boxing (via Boxing Scene).
It's a pretty bold claim, but then again, this is Arum promoting his own fighter. But it's not like Pacquiao hasn't been impressed with Inoue either as the former eight-division champion even offered to provide the latter with assistance as far as moving up divisions.
Arum, however, sees no benefit to such a move.
“I love Manny, Manny knows boxing, but what’s he gonna add to Inoue?” Arum asked. “Where is Inoue falling short where Pacquiao could help him?”
How far Naoya Inoue can go up is ultimately down to him.
Arum notably believes he could go all the way up to lightweight which would open up the possibility of a fantasy matchup with Gervonta Davis that many have been calling for recently. But that's the limit as super lightweight is a push for the 30-year-old.
“I think he has a chance to go all the way up, maybe even to junior lightweight or lightweight,” Arum added. “Well, not 140—he’s not a big guy. Look how Fulton—I was there, he’s so much bigger than he was, at 122. Inoue is something special.”
