Whilst he once named Muhammad Ali as the greatest fighter of all time, promoter Bob Arum now believes that there is another fighter that ranks even higher than the heavyweight icon.
Ali is widely considered to be the greatest fighter to have ever laced up the gloves, proving his credentials throughout the course of his 21-year professional career which spanned between 1960 and 1981.
Speaking in Reuters interview after Ali’s death, Arum paid homage to the late great three-time heavyweight champion, claiming he was the ‘greatest fighter in history.’
“Well, you have to understand in the period up through the mid nineteen sixty seven, when he was unable to fight, Ali was the greatest fighter in the history of the world, certainly by far the greatest heavyweight. No heavyweight ever could move the way he could. No heavyweight could throw punches for different from different angles like he could.”
The Top Rank promoter has now watched another star surpass that, as he revealed in an interview with Jai McAllister that he believes unbeaten Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue is the best fighter that he has ‘ever seen’.
“Inoue is not only pound-for-pound the best in the world, Inoue is the best fighter I’ve ever seen.
“The best I’ve ever seen – no matter what weight category, or anything, I have never ever seen in the almost sixty years I’ve been in boxing seen anything like Inoue.”
Inoue remains unbeaten as a professional since his debut back in 2012, winning world titles across four weight classes including the undisputed world championship at both bantamweight and super-bantamweight.
He is set to make the next defence of his undisputed crown at 122lbs on September 14 as he faces long-term rival Murodjon Akhmadaliev at the IG Arena in Nagoya, Japan.
