{"id":655034,"date":"2026-06-24T01:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/655034\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T01:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:54:14","slug":"teddy-atlas-delivers-new-verdict-on-naoya-inoue-vs-bam-rodriguez-he-might-go-down-as-one-of-the-greats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/655034\/","title":{"rendered":"Teddy Atlas delivers new verdict on Naoya Inoue vs Bam Rodriguez: “He might go down as one of the greats”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teddy Atlas has considered how Jesse Rodriguez<\/a> would fare against Naoya Inoue<\/a> following his sixth-round finish over Antonio Vargas.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bam\u2019 dethroned Vargas to become a three-weight world champion<\/a> last Saturday, yet despite scoring his sixth consecutive stoppage, many felt the 26-year-old performed below his typically elite standards.<\/p>\n

Such high expectations can be explained by the American\u2019s phenomenal skillset, which has seen him claim notable victories over the likes of Juan Francisco Estrada and Sunny Edwards.<\/p>\n

In his first outing at 118lbs, though, Rodriguez came up against a sturdy opponent in Vargas, who perhaps enjoyed more success than most had anticipated.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bam\u2019 then eventually nailed the Olympian with a sharp left hand, sent him to the canvas and ultimately claimed the WBA bantamweight title.<\/p>\n

As a result, fans are now clamouring for a showdown between Rodriguez and Inoue, who comes off a measured points victory over Junto Nakatani<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By defeating his Japanese rival, \u2018The Monster\u2019 made a seventh successful defence of his undisputed super-bantamweight crown and arguably cemented himself as the sport\u2019s No.1 pound-for-pound star.<\/p>\n

Given the 33-year-old\u2019s wealth of experience, too, Hall of Fame trainer Atlas has said on his YouTube channel<\/a> that he feels Inoue could perhaps be too seasoned for \u2018Bam\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Rodriguez is] still 26 [years old], and he\u2019s gonna go in there with someone who could end up being one of the all-time greats.<\/p>\n

\u201cBam might wind up being [an all-time great] too, but Bam\u2019s still a little bit [behind Inoue] in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeasoning \u2013 that could be the difference. I know Bam would be different \u2013 he\u2019d be more tentative against a guy like Inoue \u2013 but [he] can\u2019t afford to get tagged the way he did [against Vargas].\u201d<\/p>\n

On the flip side, it could be said that Inoue, at 33 years old, is more vulnerable than ever, especially if he ends up facing an elite champion like \u2018Bam\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teddy Atlas has considered how Jesse Rodriguez would fare against Naoya Inoue following his sixth-round finish over Antonio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-655034","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\/655034","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=655034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}