Naoya Inoue scored one of many standout victories of 2026 towards Junto Nakatani, and now his promoter has confirmed that talks for one more blockbuster conflict are ‘in movement’.
Final month, Inoue received the higher of fellow Japanese famous person Nakatani, in what was each the most important battle in Japanese boxing historical past and one of the anticipated bouts of the 2026 boxing calendar.
Consideration has since turned to Jesse Rodriguez’, who held three super-flyweight world titles on the time of Inoue’s current win. ‘Bam’ has vacated his belts and secured the WBA bantamweight world title with a knockout win over Antonio Vargas. The American’s coach, Robert Garcia, has recommended that they may have yet one more battle on the weight earlier than transferring up once more to problem Inoue.
Talking with Yahoo Japan, Inoue’s promoter, Hideyuki Ohasi, all however confirmed that Inoue will face Rodriguez in February subsequent yr, and that, regardless of ‘Bam’ searching for an interim battle, it might be the Japanese icon’s subsequent outing.
“He may have a giant battle in February subsequent yr, I’m positive you may guess which one. That’s additionally in movement proper now. As soon as that’s finished, the subsequent one will likely be in a unprecedented place.”
Rodriguez is anticipated to both defend his WBA bantamweight crown towards Seiya Tsutsumi or try to unify the 118lb titles with WBO champion Christian Medina later this yr forward of a soar as much as 122lbs.
