Promoter Bob Arum says Naoya Inoue is “the best fighter” he has seen in his 60 years in the sport at any weight.
Questions Raise Over the Quality of the Objection
Arum is far superior to undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) and doesn’t seem to mind the lack of hot opposition he’s faced during his twelve-year professional career.
I don’t see Inoue as the best, but I’m not promoting him either. He is a basic fighter with pop in his punches who has eaten low quality opposition at 115, 118, and 122.
With Inoue fighting weaker opposition in the lower weight divisions, you can’t tell if he’s right. The only thing we can say is that Nonito Donaire, 40, hurt Inoue badly and cracked his face in their first fight. What would a younger version of Donaire do to Inoue?
You don’t hear Arum saying that Donaire is the best fighter he’s ever seen, but he’s had all kinds of problems with him at 40 years old.
He asks Inoue to move up in weight
If Inoue just moved up to 126, 130 or 135 already, we could see he’s fine, but right now, his resume is 100% full of weak opposition. Some believe that Inoue is afraid to step up to fight the killers at featherweight and lightweight, who can finish what Luis Nery started.
When you’re talking about the biggest opponent fighter on his resume is 40-year-old Nonito Donaire, it’s a red flag that this guy isn’t as good as he’s been made out to be. Aside from Donaire, who was seriously injured by Inoue, some of the top names on the Japanese superstar’s resume are these guys:
– Luis Nery
– Marlon Tapales
– Stephen Fulton
– Emmanuel Rodríguez
– Jamie McDonnell
– Juan Carlos Payano
That’s not the killer row competition that Inoue fought.
It’s clear that Arum is promoting Inoue, 31, but you’d like to think he’d say it since he said he’s untested and was lucky he wasn’t knocked out by Luis Nery last week in his title fight. defense against the Mexican fighter fresh out of the Tokyo Dome.
“Inoue is not only the best fighter in the world, Inoue is the best fighter I have ever seen. You’ve been seen, no matter what weight class or what. “I’ve never seen anything like Inoue in nearly 60 years of boxing,” said promoter Bob Arum speaking to Jai McAllister, pronouncing Naouya Inoue.
Potential Featherweight Challengers
If Inoue were to move up to featherweight, he could be tested on these fighters:
– Rey Vargas
– Luis Alberto Lopez
– Rafael Espinoza
– Robey Ramirez
– Raymond Ford
– Nick Ball
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