Naoya Inoue scored one of the standout victories of 2026 against Junto Nakatani, and now his promoter has confirmed that talks for another blockbuster clash are ‘in motion’.
Last month, Inoue got the better of fellow Japanese superstar Nakatani, in what was both the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history and one of the most anticipated bouts of the 2026 boxing calendar.
Attention has since turned to Jesse Rodriguez’, who held three super-flyweight world titles at the time of Inoue’s recent win. ‘Bam’ has vacated his belts and secured the WBA bantamweight world title with a knockout win over Antonio Vargas. The American’s trainer, Robert Garcia, has suggested that they will have one more fight at the weight before moving up again to challenge Inoue.
Speaking with Yahoo Japan, Inoue’s promoter, Hideyuki Ohasi, all but confirmed that Inoue will face Rodriguez in February next year, and that, despite ‘Bam’ looking for an interim fight, it may be the Japanese icon’s next outing.
“He will have a big fight in February next year, I am sure you can guess which one. That’s also in motion right now. Once that’s done, the next one will be in an extraordinary place.”
Rodriguez is expected to either defend his WBA bantamweight crown against Seiya Tsutsumi or attempt to unify the 118lb titles with WBO champion Christian Medina later this year ahead of a jump up to 122lbs.
