Bob Arum recently compared Naoya Inoue's career to Manny Pacquiao's. The boxing promoter claimed Inoue's undefeated record, as well as his disciplined and technical boxing style make his career even more legendary.
Comparisons between the best are inevitable—especially in boxing.
Recently, Top Rank's Bob Arum, who has showcased both Naoya Inoue and Manny Pacquiao, made a bold statement that has raised eyebrows in the boxing community.
Arum, no stranger to promoting legendary talents, went as far as to declare that Naoya Inoue's career may ultimately be even more legendary than that of the Filipino icon, Manny Pacquiao.
“Manny Pacquiao was a great, great champion, was great for boxing. His career is legendary. Naoya Inoue’s career is even more legendary because unlike Manny he has gone through one division after another without losing a fight,” Arum told Sky Sports.
The remark comes as Inoue, nicknamed "The Monster”, is set to defend his super-bantamweight title in Tokyo on January 24 against Korean challenger, Kim Ye-joon.
Kim stepped in just two weeks before the fight to replace the injured Australian Sam Goodman.
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Arum further elaborated on the comparison, acknowledging both fighters' greatness while also emphasizing their differences.
“You really can’t compare either of them because they’re both obviously great fighters but they’re also different,” Arum said.
While Pacquiao’s early fighting style was often described as reckless and aggressive, which led to his eventual knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth bout, Arum praised Inoue’s calculated and disciplined approach to boxing.
"Manny was reckless in a lot of fights and that’s why he got knocked out in the last fight that he had with [Juan Manuel] Marquez. Because he went in on the attack and didn’t look out for an answering punch," Arum explained.
"Now Inoue is a much more disciplined fighter. He is much more correct in the ring. He doesn’t take foolish chances," Arum noted. "Sometimes you do, but usually he does not take foolish chances."
When it comes to pure boxing skills, Arum also believes Inoue stands out over Pacman.
"I think that if it comes to the skillset, from a technical boxing standpoint, Inoue has it way over Manny Pacquiao," Arum remarked. "That’s not to denigrate Pacquiao but it’s just to say that in Inoue we have not only a ferocious knockout puncher but a very, very well-trained technical fighter."
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Inoue has an impressive undefeated record of 28-0-0, with 25 of those victories coming by knockout.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, had a record of 62 wins (39 by way of knockouts), along with eight losses and two draws.
But has the Japanese fighter’s accolades surpassed the eight-division world champion? Filipinos will most certainly disagree.