Naoya Inoue could emerge as the pound-for-pound number one after his clash with Junto Nakatani next month, although before a move up to featherweight, there is another fight on the mind of ‘The Monster’.
Inoue has been a dominant force across both bantamweight and super-bantamweight, becoming an undisputed champion in both divisions and maintaining his undefeated record, but fans continue to push for the Japanese phenomenon to move up to featherweight.
First, a ‘motivated’ Inoue takes on his toughest test to date, tasked with fellow domestic superstar Nakatani, in what is undoubtedly the biggest fight in the history of Japanese boxing, with the move to 126lbs expected to follow soon after.
However, on a TikTok live, Inoue revealed that he plans to have two more fights at super-bantamweight, including Nakatani, before seeking honours in a fifth weight division, as per Yahoo Japan.
“I think featherweight will be my final challenge. After the Nakatani fight, and one other fight I’ve wanted to do, my last challenge will be in featherweight.
“I’m not going to move up right away, so I’d like to decide [a fight] with the [featherweight] champion at that time.”
Fans are now beginning to speculate that Inoue could be lining up a scrap with unified super-flyweight champion and pound-for-pound rival, Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who is being touted for a bantamweight world title challenge against either Antonio Vargas or Christian Medina Jimenez.
Should Rodriguez get his hands on a bantamweight crown, a door may open for a shot at the undisputed super-bantamweight throne, before Inoue advances up to featherweight and moves out of the Texan’s reach.
