{"id":633954,"date":"2026-06-12T00:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T00:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633954\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T00:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T00:04:08","slug":"naoya-inoue-targeted-for-inevitable-fight-branded-one-of-the-greatest-in-boxing-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/633954\/","title":{"rendered":"Naoya Inoue targeted for ‘inevitable’ fight branded ‘one of the greatest in boxing history\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just weeks after overcoming Junto Nakatani in a historic all-Japanese showdown, Naoya Inoue<\/a> is being strongly linked with another \u2018inevitable\u2019 rivalry.<\/p>\n

A four-division world champion, Inoue is currently considered to be boxing\u2019s pound-for-pound number one, with last month\u2019s triumph over Nakatani<\/a> regarded as a career-best win that cements his position in the top spot.<\/p>\n

Whilst many fans have want to see \u2018The Monster\u2019 move up in weight once more in an attempt to conquer as many divisions as possible, plenty are now instead hoping that he pumps the brakes and sticks around at 122lbs for a while longer.<\/p>\n

That is because of a potential super-fight with former unified super-flyweight world champion Jesse \u2018Bam\u2019 Rodriguez<\/a>, who steps up to bantamweight on Saturday but is willing to then venture up once more in pursuit of Inoue.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Ring Magazine<\/a>, Rodriguez maintained that he is focused on this weekend\u2019s clash with WBA bantamweight world champion Antonio Vargas, but admitted that a meeting with Inoue feels \u2018inevitable\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, no [I am not thinking about the Naoya Inoue fight]. Like I say, one fight at a time. I am staying focussed on Antonio Vargas but I know that, when that Inoue fight does happen, the fans are in for a great night of boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are already talking about that fight so much that it is inevitable at this point and I feel like, when the time comes, it is going to be a great fight \u2013 probably one of the best fights in all of boxing history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargas vs. Rodriguez takes place at the Desert Diamond Arena on June 13, as \u2018Bam\u2019 seeks to capture world honours in a third division and tee up one of the biggest bouts in boxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just weeks after overcoming Junto Nakatani in a historic all-Japanese showdown, Naoya Inoue is being strongly linked with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-633954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}