FRESH from his third-round shelling of Ricardo Espinoza Franco in Monte-Carlo, MJ Akhmadaliev wasted little time in calling out the king of the 122-pound division, Naoya Inoue. After the dust had settled and the ring emptied, MJ’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, reinforced the team’s stance to Boxing News on why the WBA must call their mandatory and shove the Japanese fighter in their direction.
“[It’s a] very difficult fight. I think, to me, Inoue is one of the best fighters in the world,” said Kornilov, with little argument from any switched-on boxing observer.
“I really feel he’s a special fighter. So that’s why this whole situation makes me wonder what’s going on. Does he rate MJ so high up that he wants to avoid him that much?
“Because I don’t believe that MJ just runs through him. I believe it’s going to be a really, really tough fight for MJ. But it is an opportunity. Both of these guys can punch. It’s a great fight.”
Rather than merely organising a compulsory clash between the number one and a former unified king, Kornilov eyes an opportunity to revitalise the entire sport and only one man capable of having the cash to lure Inoue to fight.
“This is the type of fight that gets boxing back in the sports [sic]. It gets it back rated up in the industry. Everybody wants to see fights like this.
“This is what should happen. This is what His Excellency Turki Alalshikh does. He gets these fighters together. Maybe he can help in this situation. I’m hoping he notices one of these guys and tries to make it happen because I saw that Inoue was partnering up with Riyadh Season and all of that. If Japan doesn’t see MJ as an opponent, maybe Riyadh does.”
Following a quick, fairly routine outing for MJ, if Inoue continues to evade, there always remains potential for another interim outing. Kornilov is not so sure that’s the route they’ll take.
“It depends. I mean, I don’t know right now. It depends on the timelines,” he said.
