Naoya Inoue won't wait for Bam Rodriguez and starts preparing for featherweight
The undisputed super bantamweight champion, 33-0, could move up to a fifth weight class while Rodriguez's team eye another fight at 118lb first.
Naoya Inoue says he will not wait around for Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez and is preparing to move up to featherweight.
"I have no intention of waiting around for Bam, so I'm also starting preparations to go to featherweight," Inoue posted on X in Japanese on 13 October.
Inoue, 33-0 with 27 knockouts, is the undisputed super bantamweight champion at 122lb and has won world titles in four weight classes. Featherweight, at 126lb, would be his fifth.
A fight with Rodriguez has been discussed for some time, but Rodriguez's trainer and manager Robert Garcia has said he wants the unbeaten Rodriguez, 24-0 and the WBA bantamweight champion, to have one more fight at 118lb first, against WBO champion Christian Medina. "I need one more fight before that," Garcia said after Rodriguez beat Antonio Vargas in June.
Matchroom's Eddie Hearn responded to Inoue's post: "Who's waiting? You said you are fighting in Feb/March? We are ready."
Inoue had already said he would only pursue the fight if it could happen around February 2027: "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."
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