This week, Bob Arum celebrated his 94th birthday. 2026 marks his 60th year in the sport of boxing since promoting Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight title defence against George Chuvalo in the sixties.
The veteran promoter has worked with fighters great and small, playing a significant part in the campaigns of the likes of Marvin Hagler, George Foreman and Manny Pacquiao. He has, as per Boxing Scene back in 2020, put together 655 world championship fights and that number has continued to grow in the half decade since.
Though his Top Rank outfit is currently in between broadcast deals and therefore has less of a command on the sport as it has done in the past, its CEO still works with some of the best fighters in the world.
In fact, in a recent conversation with Jai McAllister, Arum revealed that he considers one of his current stable the best he has witnessed after six decades in the game. That man is ‘The Monster,’ Naoya Inoue, who he considers better than Ali and all of the above.
“Inoue is not only pound-for-pound the best in the world, Inoue is the best fighter I’ve ever seen, no matter what weight category or anything.
“I have never ever in the almost 60-years I’ve been in boxing seen anything like Inoue.”
Inoue — who inked a promotional deal with Top Rank in 2019 after winning the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament — is one of just three men to become undisputed in two divisions during the four-belt era, the other two being his rivals for the top pound-for-pound spot, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk.
The Japanese phenomenon currently holds all belts in the super-bantamweight ranks and remains refreshingly active for a man of his calibre and stardom. He returns to action against David Picasso on December 27 in Las Vegas, hoping to score the 28th knockout of his pro career.
Another legacy defining moment awaits should Inoue come through, as the hard-hitting 32-year-old is pencilled in to face Junto Nakatani in May of 2026. Nakatani, who makes his super-bantamweight debut on the same Vegas card, is undefeated in 31 and also boasts fight-ending power. They will repotredly face off at the Tokyo Dome in a hardcore fight fan’s dream.
