{"id":679224,"date":"2026-05-18T19:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679224\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:32:11","slug":"eddie-hearn-has-no-doubt-about-inoue-vs-rodriguez-fight-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679224\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn Has No Doubt About Inoue vs Rodriguez Fight Location"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4q\">If Jesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez hopes to fulfill all boxing fans&#8217; wishes and finally fight \u2018The Monster\u2019 Naoya Inoue, then he is going to have to do it soon, and behind enemy lines, according to his promoter.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4t\">The pair have been circling each other in the eyes of the boxing world for years now, but with Inoue set to make a move to featherweight, Rodriguez, says Eddie Hearn, will have to make his move before the Japanese champion is out of reach. <\/p>\n<p>Eddie Hearn has no doubts where Inoue vs Rodriguez would take place<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01k0h5p4zgv38x9cqmqn.jpg\" alt=\"Jesse Rodriguez\" title=\"Jesse Rodriguez\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"56\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jesse Rodriguez stands over Pedro Guevara | IMAGO \/ ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">For that reason, when asked if that fight was going to be in Japan, Eddie Hearn responded with absolute certainty. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes. Without a shadow of a doubt&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Eddie Hearn told BoxingScene<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">The Mexican, 23-0 (16), is making his first move towards his pound-for-pound rival by stepping up to his old stomping grounds, bantamweight, and taking on the WBA champion, Antonio Vargas, on June 13, which Hearn gave him huge credit for. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">\u201cI represent Vargas as well, so it\u2019s not really fair to start talking about that fight [Inoue-Bam], but people are going to talk about that fight because they\u2019ve talked about it for years,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingscene.com\/articles\/naoya-inoue-vs-jesse-bam-rodriguez-in-japan-without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt-says-promoter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hearn explained to BoxingScene<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">\u201cAnd with him [Rodriguez] moving up another weight class, it gives them even more reason to talk about it. And I think if he wins on June 13, I think it\u2019s inevitable. Bam is an incredible young man, where he wants to move so quick. He\u2019s not someone that wants to be around having loads of voluntary defenses and fighting in eight years\u2019 time. He wants to get in now. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">&#8220;He feels like right now he&#8217;s in his absolute prime, which he is. So, I think that he&#8217;s got to try and beat Vargas, which is not going to be easy. And if he does that and he feels good at 118lbs, you\u2019ve got to hurry up and make the Inoue fight, because sooner or later Inoue will move to 126lbs and then it will be over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01jtgednvaj15rbjt2gs.jpg\" alt=\"Naoya Inoue throws a right hand against Ramon Cardenas\" title=\"Naoya Inoue throws a right hand against Ramon Cardenas\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5z\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Naoya Inoue throws a right hand against Ramon Cardenas | Mikey Williams\/Top Rank<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Inoue, 33-0 (27), is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/boxing\/naoya-inoue-vs-junto-nakatani-results-inoue-puts-on-masterclass-to-shut-down-nakatani\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">coming off an impressive unanimous decision win<\/a> over compatriot rival Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome, which is being hailed as one of, if not the, biggest fights in the history of Japanese Boxing. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">Having become undisputed champion at super bantamweight over two years ago and defended those titles seven times since, the clock is ticking on a potential departure to featherweight, which Inoue has called his final destination in boxing. It therefore remains to be seen if he will move up, or if he will wait for Rodriguez and the mega payday he would bring.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Jesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez hopes to fulfill all boxing fans&#8217; wishes and finally fight \u2018The Monster\u2019 Naoya Inoue,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-679224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}