Naoya Inoue has been linked to a fascinating showdown with pound-for-pound rival Jesse Rodriguez in recent weeks, but it seems as though the meeting is far from guaranteed, with Inoue stating that he is not ‘obsessed’ with facing the Texan.
Inoue defended his undisputed super-bantamweight world title for the seventh time when he scored a legendary win over fellow Japanese sensation Junto Nakatani back in May, in what many believe to be the biggest fight in the nation’s long and proud history of boxing.
That victory sparked rumours of an early 2027 clash with ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who vacated all three of his super-flyweight world titles to move closer to Inoue and up to bantamweight, where he then dethroned WBA champion Antonio Vargas a few weeks later.
However, in the aftermath of the Vargas win, Rodriguez and his trainer Robert Garcia admitted that they are planning to have one more outing at 118lbs before stepping up and challenging Inoue at 122lbs.
A unification between Rodriguez and WBO bantamweight world champion Christian Medina is now being touted for either November or December.
Upon hearing those rumours, Inoue has revealed that he is unwilling to further delay a fight with Rodriguez and threatened to move on from the proposal and up to featherweight, if it does not take place when he wishes, as per Sanspo.
“I can’t do it [fight Rodriguez] later [than February].”
“No, I’m not particular about Bam either. If Bam says, ‘I want to spend a little more [time] at bantamweight’, I’m already thinking about the featherweight challenge.
“If I can do it [fight Bam] around February, I will do it. However, if you go beyond that and get a little longer, I don’t have to be that obsessed with Bam, and I am not obsessed. I will go my own way,”
Inoue’s words may cause Eddie Hearn to rethink plans to stage Rodriguez-Medina at the end of the year, with a potential two month turnaround sure to prove too short for the American star.
