Naoya Inoue has taken the world of boxing by storm and is now widely-recognised as a top three pound-for-pounder if not the cream of the crop. As the Japanese sensation continues to move up and conquer weight-classes, veteran promoter Bob Arum has shared his belief on how far Inoue can go and whether we will ever see him face Gervonta Davis.
‘The Monster’ began his career as a light-flyweight and won the WBC world title in just his sixth professional contest in 2014. Since then, Inoue has ever only fought in world title bouts in a run of 22 consecutive championship encounters spanning from the 108lb division to the super-bantamweight scene.
Inoue became Japan’s first undisputed champion when he knocked out Paul Butler in 2022 but it is at 122lbs where he has finally received the worldwide recognition that he deserves – mainly after a sensational win over unified champion Stephen Fulton on his debut at the weight.
Still, some fans maintain that Inoue cannot be considered as the pound-for-pound king until he fights bigger names in the sport and the 31-year-old continues to be linked to a future move up to lightweight – where he could potentially take on the self-proclaimed ‘face of boxing’ Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
On the Cigar Talk podcast, Bob Arum shunned any chance of Inoue facing ‘Tank’ and explained that it would not be fair to force Inoue to fight as high as 135lbs when he is already at a physical disadvantage as a super-bantamweight.
“In his last few fights, he is fighting 122lb guys and he is always the smaller guy. Even when he goes to 126lbs, which they are talking about going to, he is going to be massively smaller than the fighters that he fights. When he goes up, if he goes up to 135lbs – that is not going to be fair.
“No, [there is no way that I can see the Gervonta Davis fight happening] really. The size difference is monumental.”
Whilst a clash between Inoue and Davis will not be happening any time soon, Inoue will also not be returning to fight in the United Kingdom in September, despite links that he could appear on the Anthony Joshua versus Daniel Dubois card at Wembley Stadium in three months’ time.
Instead, Inoue is poised to return to fight in Japan once again against Irish-born contender TJ Doheny – who has become a fan-favourite in Inoue’s native country. Following that outing, Inoue may appear once again in December where he would expectedly go up against undefeated Australian Sam Goodman in his final bout as a super-bantamweight.
Finally, the arguable pound-for-pound number one will make the move to the featherweight division in 2025 if all goes to plan, where he would assumably continue his remarkable run of title contests and face one of the champions at 126lbs; Luis Alberto Lopez (IBF), Rafael Espinoza (WBO), Nick Ball (WBA) or Rey Vargas (WBC).
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