{"id":644020,"date":"2026-06-17T19:31:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644020\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:31:20","slug":"robert-garcia-picks-christian-medina-over-naoya-inoue-for-bam-rodriguezs-next-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644020\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Garcia Picks Christian Medina Over Naoya Inoue For Bam Rodriguez&#8217;s Next Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Robert has another name in mind for Rodriguez\u2019s next assignment. Rather than pursuing a fight with Takuma Inoue, he identified WBO bantamweight champion Christian Medina as the opponent he would prefer Bam to face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would prefer Medina because Medina is a very strong fighter and he\u2019s going to give us a test,\u201d Robert Garcia told <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DAZNBoxing\/status\/2066008467530297642?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">DAZN<\/a>. \u201cTakuma is also a great fighter, but me personally, I would prefer Medina because he\u2019s going to give us a test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robert\u2019s comments came after Rodriguez admitted he could feel the physical difference competing at bantamweight for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter the fight, he did tell me, \u2018Listen, I did feel the strength,&#8217;\u201d Robert said. \u201cHe is a bigger guy, so why would we go straight into another division which is going to make a big difference? We\u2019ve got to pace ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Medina, 27-4 (19 KOs), claimed the WBO bantamweight title earlier this year and has emerged as one of the division\u2019s more dangerous champions. A matchup between Medina and Rodriguez would give Bam the opportunity to unify titles in just his second fight at 118 pounds while also providing the type of challenge Robert believes is necessary before moving up again.<\/p>\n<p>Bam, 22-0 (15 KOs), has been linked heavily with an eventual fight against undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. However, Robert made it clear that he is in no rush to send his fighter directly into another weight class after Saturday\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n<p>There are also other considerations at play. The WBA has ordered Rodriguez to face champion-in-recess Seiya Tsutsumi within six months of winning the title from Vargas. Failure to satisfy that obligation could result in Bam being stripped of the belt.<\/p>\n<p>Robert remains committed to keeping Bam at bantamweight a little longer, with Medina emerging as the opponent he believes could best prepare his fighter for the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert has another name in mind for Rodriguez\u2019s next assignment. Rather than pursuing a fight with Takuma Inoue,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-644020","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\/644020","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=644020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}