Promoter Bob Arum says undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya \u2018Monster\u2019 Inoue is the \u201cbest fighter\u201d he\u2019s ever laid eyes on in \u201c60 years\u201d that he\u2019s been covering the sport. In other words, Arum rates Inoue above Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran.<\/p>\n
Inoue Elevated Above Ali, Leonard, and Duran<\/p>\n
Arum, who promotes the former four-division world champion Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) with his Top Rank company, has promoted fighters with far better credentials than the 32-year-old Japanese star. It\u2019s hard to take him seriously, given Inoue\u2019s rather lackluster resume in terms of quality wins.<\/p>\n
Arum\u2019s Mount Rushmore of Greats<\/p>\n
Muhammad Ali
\nManny Pacquiao
\nMarvelous\u201d Marvin Hagler
\nSugar Ray Leonard
\nGeorge Foreman
\nOscar De La Hoya
\nFloyd Mayweather Jr.
\nAlexis Arg\u00fcello
\nRoberto Dur\u00e1n
\nThomas Hearns<\/p>\n
When one looks at the massive talents that the 93-year-old Arum has promoted, they have done far more in their careers than \u2018Monster\u2019 Inoue. He\u2019s a good fighter, but he\u2019s had the advantage of fighting in weak divisions against limited opposition.<\/p>\n
Donaire Exposed Cracks in the \u2018Monster\u2019 Myth<\/p>\n
We saw what happened to him when he got busted up against a past his best 36-year-old Nonito Donaire in their first fight.<\/p>\n
A Resume That Doesn\u2019t Match the Praise<\/p>\n
Stephen Fulton
\nNonito Donaire (x2)
\nMurodjon Akhmadaliev
\nRamon Cardenas
\nMarlon Tapales
\nPaul Butler
\nLuis Nery
\nEmmanuel Rodr\u00edguez
\nOmar Narv\u00e1ez
\nJamie McDonnell
\nJuan Carlos Payano
\nJason Moloney
\nAdri\u00e1n Hern\u00e1ndez<\/p>\n
\u201cInoue is not only pound-for-pound the best in the world, Inoue is the best fighter I\u2019ve ever seen, no matter what weight category or anything,\u201d said promoter Bob Arum to Jai McAllister<\/a> about Naoya Inoue.<\/p>\n \u201cI have never ever in the almost 60 years I\u2019ve been in boxing seen anything like Inoue,\u201d said Arum.<\/p>\n As far as Chris Williams is concerned, Inoue hasn\u2019t tested himself by moving up to featherweight to face the sharks that would show whether he\u2019s the thing.<\/p>\n If he moved up a mere four pounds to 126 to face the likes of Rafael Espinoza, Bruce Carrington, Angelo Leo, and Mirco Cuello, one could give him credit for being among the greats. But certainly, not the greatest because Inoue would still need to do far more than beat these guys to be in the top four of the Mount Rushmore of boxing.<\/p>\n Fans See a Pattern: Safety Over Substance<\/p>\n Many fans view Inoue as a cherry-picker and a fighter who chooses to play it safe by taking easy fights to pad his record rather than jumping straight in with the cream of the crop. For example, instead of Inoue facing Junto Nakatani now, he\u2019s defending his four 122-lb belts against David Picasso on December 27th in Riyadh.<\/p>\n That fight is seen as another gimme for \u2018The Monster\u2019 Inoue. There is zero demand for that fight, and it\u2019s just another one of a long line of setups that Naoya has taken rather than risk his hide fighting the apex predators that would show his true talent or lack thereof.<\/p>\n Chris Williams is a senior writer for Boxing News 24, covering the sport since 2013 and reporting ringside from major events worldwide. His coverage dives into both established champions and hungry prospects battling for recognition. Over the years, Chris has contributed to numerous leading boxing outlets, earning respect for his sharp analysis and insider perspective.<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb – An Analyst’s Perspective<\/a> \u00bb Bob Arum Calls Naoya Inoue \u201cThe Best Fighter I\u2019ve Ever Seen\u201d \u2014 Ranks \u2018Monster\u2019 Above Ali, Leonard, and Duran After 60 Years in Boxing<\/p>\n Last Updated on 11\/12\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Promoter Bob Arum says undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya \u2018Monster\u2019 Inoue is the \u201cbest fighter\u201d he\u2019s ever laid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-258867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}