Comparing Naoya Inoue and Manny Pacquiao: Age and Weight Class Progression
I compared the age and weight class progression of Naoya Inoue and Manny Pacquiao.
Inoue’s height and reach: 165 cm / 171 cm
Pacquiao’s height and reach: 168 cm / 170 cm
Inoue has a longer reach, and I wondered—could he achieve a weight class conquest like Pacquiao? So I decided to compare them.
Here’s a graph plotting age (horizontal axis) against weight class (vertical axis).
Updated in September 2023
The weight points are plotted near the upper limit of each class.
From this graph, we can see:
- Pacquiao turned pro earlier and moved up weight classes faster than Inoue.
- Between ages 22–26, Pacquiao was two divisions above Inoue.
- Between ages 29–30, Pacquiao climbed three more divisions!
Counting from flyweight to super welterweight, Pacquiao has conquered 10 weight classes. That’s practically a 10-division championship!
Creating this age-weight graph reminded me just how incredible Pacquiao’s career has been.
Inoue once said in an interview, “I want to reach featherweight by age 30.”
If he does, that would be five divisions conquered.
As a fan, I wonder if he could go even further—but of course, it’s not that simple.
I’m excited to see how Inoue’s boxing journey unfolds and how this graph evolves in the future.
September 2023 Update
It’s been about four years since I first wrote this article.
During that time, COVID-19 disrupted many matches, but Inoue unified all four bantamweight titles.
This year, he moved up to super bantamweight and unified four titles again.
In a recent interview, he said, “I want to reach featherweight by age 33.”
I’m looking forward to seeing how far he can go.