Lower-division legend Nonito Donaire has offered his take on a potential clash between Naoya Inoue and Jesse Rodriguez, believing that one man has the skills to emerge triumphant.
Inoue made a seventh successful defence of his undisputed super-bantamweight crown earlier this month, unanimously outpointing three-weight world champion Junto Nakatani.
Their all-Japanese encounter delivered a somewhat cagey affair until Nakatani gained momentum between rounds eight and 10, where ‘The Monster’ suddenly seemed in a spot of bother.
In response, though, Inoue managed to retain his four major titles with a strong finish to their contest, maintaining his status as a top two pound-for-pound star.
Along with the 33-year-old, many regard Rodriguez as one of the sport’s flagship operators, especially following his back-to-back stoppages over Phumelela Cafu and Fernando Martinez.
Those two victories saw him unify the super-flyweight division last year, but now ‘Bam’ is bidding to become a three-weight world champion against Antonio Vargas.
The pair will square off for Vargas’ WBA bantamweight title on June 13, with Rodriguez expected to complete this assignment before moving up to 122lbs.
It should then become a question of when, rather than if, the 26-year-old collides with Inoue, who represents the naturally bigger and more experienced fighter.
But despite these advantages, Donaire has told The Ring that he believes Rodriguez has skills to defeat Inoue, who outpointed and stopped the Filipino in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
“When it comes down to technical skills and the way Bam fights, he’s definitely up there and can beat Inoue.
“Bam has all of the skills, but being the smaller guy is going to be a big disadvantage to his style. The question becomes: is Bam big enough to utilise his dominance and his style? Because if you’re the smaller guy, it’s very difficult to do all of the things that he’s done.
“But in terms of skills and capability, I think he beats both Inoue and Nakatani if they mix it up. He has the ability to do that.”
According to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, preliminary talks for a showdown between Inoue and ‘Bam’ have already taken place, with the pair expected to lock horns at the Tokyo Dome early next year.
