There are few people alive today who have been closer to boxing for longer than Bob Arum and now the promotional legend has named who he says is the best boxer he has ever seen.
Arum heads up the Top Rank stable and has done so for decades. He has promoted some of the biggest and best fights and fighters of the last 50 years and remains involved at the very top level even this weekend as the co-promoter of Tyson Fury, who takes on Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight crown in Saudi Arabia.
In his long and storied career, Arum has also worked with Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya and Vasiliy Lomachenko, who became a world champion again this last weekend when he stopped Aussie George Kambossos Jr for the IBF title.
Speaking to Jai McAllister, he was asked about what he made of Naoya Inoue’s most recent win against Luis Nery last week.
“He is not only pound-for-pound the best in the world, Inoue is the best fighter I have ever seen, no matter the what weight category. In over 60 years in boxing, I have never seen anything like Inoue.”
He also spoke to Boxing Scene with even more embellished praise.
“He’s a terrific young man. It’s scary with what I am seeing. He overwhelms really good opponents. I’ve never seen a fighter of that size perform the way he has. Maybe Salvador Sanchez had that ability. Even then, Sanchez did not win nearly all his fights by knockout.
“Inoue goes in, boxes, and knocks these guys out. What we’re seeing in Inoue is something that is really special. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He’s as special to boxing to what [Japanese star] Shohei Ohtani is to baseball. We’re honoured to be playing a part in his career.”
The Japanese start came through an early scare in his last fight at the Tokyo Dome – which was the first time boxing had returned to that area since 1990 when Mike Tyson was upset by Buster Douglas. Inoue was put down in round one but rallied and knocked down Nery several times on the way to his latest lockout victory.
That maintained the four-division champion’s unbeaten record and is another good win for the 31-year-old who was the undisputed champion at 118 pounds, then move up to 122 pounds in 2023 and in just two fights cleared to the division by stopping Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales.
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