It’s a fight that Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has grown somewhat weary of speaking about: himself Vs. Naoya Inoue. For though Rodriguez is still fighting at 115 pounds, this two weight classes lower than Inoue, fans have been asking him for some time when he will fight “The Monster?” Rodriguez, the reigning WBC junior bantamweight champ, wants to unify the division before he moves up.
The first step in this regard will come on July 19, when Bam will rumble with recently crowned WBO junior bantamweight champ Phumelele Cafu. That could prove to be a good fight, and if victorious, Bam would then look for the other two belts.
The getting of and the winning of these fights will, of course, take time, and Bam says that it’s realistic that he will be ready to fight Inoue in “Another year or two.”
Speaking with Fight Hype, the unbeaten southpaw with the 21-0(14) record said that when he does fight Inoue, he would like to do so in “The Monster’s” home country of Japan.
“Another year or two, I believe,” Rodriguez said with regards to when he thinks he could face Inoue up at 122 pounds. “In Japan, it would be pretty cool. I’m a huge fan of Japan, so to go out there and fight in front of those fans would be cool.”
But a cool reception is what Rodriguez would perhaps receive if he did challenge the Japanese superstar/idol/hero in front of his adoring fans. Still, it would be a huge fight, a huge occasion if Bam did put his unbeaten record and pound-for-pound status on the line against an Inoue who would be doing the same, especially if the fight took place where all the bantamweight and super-bantamweight action currently is, and that’s in Japan.
But will Inoue still be fighting at 122 pounds in a year or two? There is, as we know, talk of Inoue, 30-0(27), making the move up to the featherweight division, that after Inoue gets through his upcoming fight with Murodjon Akhmadaliev and then goes into, we all hope, an all-Japanese super fight with Junto Nakatani. If Inoue gets through all that, and if Bam meanwhile makes good on his goal of unifying the 115-pound belts, maybe these two superb warriors will indeed meet in either 2026 or 2027.
Here’s hoping.