{"id":957070,"date":"2026-11-03T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/957070\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T18:40:10","slug":"naoya-inoue-offered-title-shot-in-new-division-by-champion-who-just-scored-fifth-stoppage-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/957070\/","title":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue offered title shot in new division by champion who just scored fifth stoppage in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naoya Inoue<\/a> is eyeing up a move into the featherweight division, with each of the reigning 126lb champions seemingly keen to secure a lucrative shot at the pound-for-pound king. Now, after scoring a fifth consecutive win inside of the distance, one featherweight ruler has publicly called for a clash with the Japanese sensation.<\/p>\n

Inoue has issued a March deadline to Jesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez as hype around their potential match-up continues to first build and then be dampened by a possible collapse, as Rodriguez toys with the idea of remaining at bantamweight<\/a> or challenging for the undisputed super-bantamweight throne.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it is believed that Inoue will make his move into the featherweight division next year, with current world champions; Angelo Leo (IBF), Bruce Carrington (WBC), Brandon Figueroa (WBA) and Rafael Espinoza (WBO), each jostling to be selected as the man that Inoue wishes to challenge.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Espinoza managed a fifth straight knockout win in as many outings since becoming a world champion and during the aftermath of his victory over Ricardo Blandon, \u2018Divino\u2019 unveiled his plans to either unify or take on Inoue, on the DAZN broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, I want to unify. I want a unification fight. I want to be able to say I\u2019m the best featherweight, and also wait for that big fight with Inoue. That would be a dream. My biggest dream is to become one of the pound-for-pound best. That\u2019s what I want, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoue\u2019s move to featherweight hinges on Rodriguez\u2019s next move, but it is expected that the pair will collide in March<\/a>, before the Japanese superstar ventures up to what he has declared will be the highest and final weight-class of his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue is eyeing up a move into the featherweight division, with each of the reigning 126lb champions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-957070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}