TOKYO — Naoya Inoue announced on social media he will move up to the featherweight division instead of waiting for Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, putting a highly anticipated pound-for-pound super fight on hold. The announcement came Tuesday after Inoue successfully defended his undisputed junior featherweight title with a victory over countryman Junto Nakatani in May and then took a break to plot his next move.
In the days after that defense, Saudi boxing financier Turki Alalshikh declared his ambition to make Inoue against Rodriguez, and Inoue accepted the challenge. Reports indicated the fight could take place in early 2027 with Netflix interested in broadcasting the contest. Rodriguez moved from 118 pounds to the bantamweight division in June, stopping Antonio Vargas to claim the WBA title, a move that appeared to bring the matchup closer to reality.
Rodriguez’s trainer and manager Robert Garcia then said he wanted Rodriguez to have one more contest at 118 pounds before facing Inoue in early 2027. That fight was expected to be against Christian Medina with reports it could land on the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury card originally targeted for New York’s Madison Square Garden on November 20. With that event now shifted to December 11 in Cardiff, Wales, it is unclear what comes next for Rodriguez. Speaking to Fight Hub TV on Sunday (October 11), Garcia addressed Inoue’s impatience, saying, “We’ve heard that Inoue is not going to wait, at least reach out to us and let us know,” said Garcia. “If ‘Bam’ Rodriguez fights in December, let’s figure out April or May of [2027], we could do it and then he moves up.”
Inoue then posted Tuesday that he has grown tired of waiting. “I have no intention of sitting around waiting for Bam, so I'm going to start getting ready to move up to featherweight,” the post, translated from Japanese, read. Rodriguez’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing responded on social media, writing, “Who’s waiting? You said you are fighting in Feb/March? We are ready.”