Bob Arum has heaped high praise towards a certain fighter in a recent interview, describing them as even better than the great Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao is widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time, and won world titles in a jaw dropping eight weight classes during his glittering 26 year professional career.
However, Arum explained to Little Giant Boxing that he believes Japanese star Naoya Inoue could be even better than ‘Pac Man,’ and continue to move up the weights in a similar vein.
“Inoue is a tremendous, tremendous fighter – like we’ve never seen before, maybe since Manny Pacquiao. He’s probably better than Pacquiao was.”
“I think he has a chance to go all the way up, maybe even to junior lightweight or lightweight.”
“Inoue is something special.”
‘The Monster’ produced a stunning performance last month to stop unified world super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton, winning world titles at a fourth weight class.
All roads for Inoue now appear to lead to an undisputed clash with WBA and IBF world champion Marlon Tapales, who took to the ring and shook hands with him for a fight towards the back end of 2023
If that fight does get finalised, Inoue would have the opportunity to become undisputed at a second successive weight class in the space of less than a year – a feat never achieved in the four belt era.
Though pound for pound lists are subjective and always up for debate, there is now not a boxing fan on the planet who could deny Inoue his place as one of the best fighters in the sport.
How far he climbs up the weights remains to be seen, but he does have an offer from one Gervonta Davis should he reach 135.