In the buildup to his move up in weight this Saturday, June 13, to seek a world title in a third weight division against WBA bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, unified junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez has resisted questions about a looming showdown with undefeated four-division champion Naoya Inoue.
Aside from admitting he thinks he would win, the focused Texan Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs), has deferred most questioning surrounding the Japanese superstar, choosing instead to keep all his focus on Vargas, 19-1-1 (11 KOs), until the job is done.
The 26-year-old southpaw Rodriguez, however, let a juicy potential scenario for the super fight slip during an interview, posted to X, with Manouk Akopyan from Ring Magazine today, June 8.
While Rodriguez says he’ll fight anyone coach Robert Garcia tells him to, including a compelling eliminator with three-weight world champion, and recent Inoue victim, Junto Nakatani, he thinks about taking a different route to the showdown.
I think that’s a perfect storyline to the fight,” Rodriguez told Akopyan, “Beating his brother (WBC bantamweight champion Takuma) first… I think that’s like almost the perfect storyline to the Inoue fight, beating his brother first and then going and fighting the second brother.”
Admitting he has a tough job in front of him in Vargas, Rodriguez quickly turned the conversation back toward his upcoming fight. However, after the June 13 fight, he’ll be more willing to discuss the explosive future.
“I know when that Inoue fight does happen, then the fans are in for a great night of boxing,” he continued. “People are already talking about that fight so much that it’s inevitable at this point. And I feel like when the time comes, it’s going to be a great fight, probably one of the best fights in boxing history.”