Hearn: Bam Rodriguez ready to drop December unification for March Inoue fight

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is prepared to drop plans for a December bantamweight unification and move straight into a March 2027 fight with Naoya Inoue, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.

Matchroom is waiting for Inoue’s promoter, Hideyuki Ohashi, to make an offer for Rodriguez to challenge the undisputed junior-featherweight champion.

“We’re waiting on an offer from Team Inoue and happy to go straight into a fight in March,” Hearn told BoxingScene.

Rodriguez, who stopped Antonio Vargas in June to win the WBA bantamweight title, had been in talks to face WBO champion Christian Medina on the December 11 Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua undercard in Cardiff. The plan was then for Rodriguez to move up to 122lbs.

Inoue, however, has said a December fight would leave too little time for Rodriguez to prepare for him three months later. He warned that unless they meet directly, he is ready to proceed with a move to featherweight.

“It wouldn't be realistic to fight in December and then again in March; if it’s going to happen, it has to be a direct matchup,” Inoue said.

The Japanese champion had already expressed his frustration on social media, writing: “I have no intention of sitting around waiting for Bam, so I'm going to start getting ready to move up to featherweight.”

Inoue later told reporters that he was likely to return in March, with Rodriguez among the opponents under consideration but no agreement yet in place.

“It will likely be around March of next year,” Inoue said through a translator. “While an opponent hasn't been finalized, we are considering various names that have been rumored, as well as the possibility of moving up to the featherweight division.”

Garcia tells Inoue’s team to make an offer

Rodriguez’s trainer and manager, Robert Garcia, had wanted one more fight at bantamweight before sending him into a contest with Inoue. Garcia now says Rodriguez will go directly into the fight if Inoue’s representatives produce acceptable terms.

“Look, we’ve talked about it, and with Inoue saying, ‘There has to be no interim, he has to go straight to me,’ there’s some kind of rush and hurry. If [Inoue] can’t wait a few months, I think he wants to take advantage of ‘Bam’ not having that extra fight that I’m asking for. That gives me confidence that we can go straight into the fight,” Garcia told BoxingScene.

Garcia also challenged Inoue’s team to move the discussion away from public statements and into formal negotiations.

“Send me that f**king contract. Send me that offer. Send it to us, don’t just talk with your people and on social media, we’re one phone call away.

“I know Eddie Hearn is also available. Reach out to Eddie and we’ll finalize it. We’ll go straight into that fight if that’s how [Inoue] wants it. That favors ‘Bam’, getting one more at 118lbs with someone strong like Christian Medina, but if that’s Inoue’s worry then we’ll go straight into the fight. Make a phone call. That’s it.”

A fight between Inoue and Rodriguez has been discussed since Inoue retained his undisputed 122lbs championship with a unanimous-decision victory over Junto Nakatani in May. Saudi boxing financier Turki Alalshikh initially expressed interest in staging the contest in Japan, while Rodriguez’s move to bantamweight left the two pound-for-pound contenders one division apart.

Those discussions later slowed amid reports of financial difficulties in Saudi boxing and concerns over Alalshikh’s health. Inoue has agreed to remain at junior featherweight for a sufficiently lucrative fight with Rodriguez, but has also made clear that he intends to move to 126lbs for the latter part of his career.

Matchroom executive Frank Smith had said a decision on Rodriguez’s proposed appearance in Cardiff would be needed quickly, while acknowledging Inoue’s reluctance to allow him another fight first.

“I get Inoue’s point. He doesn't want to take the risk, obviously. So I completely get it,” Smith said. “‘Bam’ did want to have that one more fight. Timing-wise, we'll see how things play out over the coming week, I'd say. But things need to fall in place quite quickly if we're going to make it all work.”

Hearn’s comments indicate that Rodriguez’s side is now willing to remove the Medina fight from the schedule. The next step rests with Ohashi and Inoue’s team, with Matchroom awaiting formal terms for the proposed March contest.