George Groves has had his say on a potential match-up between Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue and Britain’s Nick Ball.
Pound-for-pound great Inoue has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, and has been undisputed champion at both bantamweight and super bantamweight.
He is known for his huge punching power and currently has an 84.375% knockout to win ratio across his 32 fights.
Most recently he took a 12 round points win over David Picasso on 27 December to retain his undisputed super bantamweight status and has also beaten the likes of Murodjon Akhmadaliev, TJ Doheny, Nonito Donaire and Stephen Fulton.
A win over Doheny is something he shares with Ball, who has held the WBA featherweight title since June 2024, when he beat Raymond Ford. Since then, he has also bested Ronny Rios and, last time out, Sam Goodman in August.
Inoue and Ball have exchanged words on X before now and a fight between the two has long been an option should the Japanese ‘Monster’ opt to move up once more. However, speaking to Bet Victor, former world champion Groves was brutally honest with his assessment of how the fight may pan out.
“I don’t think Nick Ball has any chance. I think Inoue is in a league of his own, and he’s got that equalizer power, there’s been times where he probably hasn’t been on song and he just ices dudes. Nick Ball to his credit has been a great fighter, but I don’t think he beats Inoue. I know he’s naturally a bit bigger, but I still don’t think he beats him.”
Next up for Ball, he is set to defend his strap against Brandon Figueroa in February in his hometown of Liverpool. Inoue now moves towards a Japanese super fight against Junto Nakatani.
