The past week in boxing showed us two great undefeated champions in different weight classes and from different countries shine in their respective world title fights.
First was Japanese star Naoya Inoue also known as “The Monster,” he fought on Tuesday, July 25 in Japan and defeated undefeated WBC/WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton by knockout. The performance was so sensational the majority of boxing fans automatically catapulted him to the number one pound for pound position.
A few days later on Saturday, July 29th, undefeated American welterweight champions Terence “Bud” Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. fought for the WBC/WBA/WBO/IBF undisputed 147-pound title, with Crawford completely dominating Spence and stopping him in a one sided affair in fight that people thought would be evenly matched.
Crawford’s performance was so impressive he will likely now take over the Pound for Pound number one spot becoming the first 4 belt undisputed champion at welterweight.
The stars turned out in Las Vegas for Spence vs Crawford and one of them was 44-year-old Filipino boxing legend Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao who reigned as the WBO welterweight champion for several years.
YouTube Boxing Reporter Little Giant Boxing caught up with Pacquiao and asked him about both fights, he was highly impressed with Crawford’s performance and also with Inoue.
Even more interesting was Pacquiao revealed his desire to train Inoue and help him climb up the weight divisions like he did to become boxing’s only 8-weight-division world champion.
“I like Naoya, before he came here I teach him in Japan,” Pacquiao told Little Giant Boxing. “Naoya if he is thinking of moving up in weight divisions, I hope I can teach him and supervise his workout and training and we can do that. I want to train him and supervise his training if he wants to move up to higher weight divisions.
“Oh Fantastic,” Paquiao smiled when asked what he thought of Inoue’s last performance against Stephen Fulton. “It was a good performance. Fast, quick and strong.”
“Congratulations in your last fight, and keep up the good work,” was the message Pacquiao sent to Inoue.
Next up for the retired Pacquiao will be an exhibition boxing match with Muay Thai kickboxing legend Buakaw Banchamek of Thailand, the exact date, and venue is still to be decided but the event will take place in the first quarter of 2024.
Muki is a long time boxing fan and enjoys Mixed Martial Arts. He has been writing boxing articles since he was a teen and his favorite fighters of the past are Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Prince Naseem Hamed. Favorite MMA fighters are Khabib Nurmagomedov, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko.