Eddie Hearn labels a match between Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Naoya Inoue as a “Fantasy fight,” but he doubts it’ll ever happen due to how far apart the two fighters are in weight.
(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada)
Weight Class Difference a Hurdle
The promoter Hearn feels that by the time ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) moves up to super bantamweight [122], the Japanese star Inoue will have already moved up to featherweight [126].
For that fight to happen, Bam will need to take a risk by moving up to super bantamweight now, which he can certainly do, given his size. It would be a big jump in terms of competition for the 24-year-old Rodriguez, and that would be the hard part.
Size-wise, Bam could easily move up to 122 right now because he looked like a full-fledged featherweight inside the ring last Saturday night in his fight against WBC super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Bam dispatched the 34-year-old Estrada in the seventh round with a body shot.
Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs) has a rematch clause for his fight with Bam Rodriguez, and Hearn believes he might use it to force a second match. If Bam wants to fight Inoue, the smart thing would be to get the rematch out of the way with Estrada and then move up to 122 to try and get the mega-fight with the Japanese star.
Bam’s Potential Jump to Super Bantamweight
“Jesse vs. Inoue is a fantasy fight. It’s also an incredible fight. You’re talking about a guy [Bam Rodriguez] who has come up from light flyweight. He’s currently at super flyweight, and he’ll definitely go to bantam,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, discussing the possibility of a fight between Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Naoya Inoue.
“I’m sure he’ll go to super bantamweight in time, but they’ll probably end up missing each other, but who knows? If Inoue stays at 122 for the next couple of years, Jesse will meet him there. Yeah, probably a fantasy fight for now, but what a fantasy fight it would be,” said Hearn about a fight between Inoue and Bam Rodriguez,” said Hearn.
If Bam Rodriguez wants the Inoue fight, he’d be better off jumping to 122 after his potential rematch with Juan Estrada. There are no big names for Bam to fight at 115 or 118 that the boxing public in the U.S would take notice of.
At least if Bam fought Inoue now, it would be a big fight in Japan and the U.S. It would be courageous of Bam to make the move now rather than in two to four years.
“I felt Bam dominated the first part of the fight, but then Estrada came back with the knockdown [in round six] and then turned the fight on its head,” said Hearn. “Estrada was in the fight, but then all of a sudden, the body shot was absolutely perfectly placed. He couldn’t get up, couldn’t breathe.”
Estrada looked thin and emaciated for the fight, and he wasn’t nearly at his best. 115 is no longer a good weight division for Estrada. He needs to move up to bantamweight or super bantamweight [118 or 122], and make life easier for him.
“It was a stunning finish, stunning knockout to a stunning fight, and wild scorecards as well. I don’t agree with, but it shows you how competitive the fight was and how dramatic the fight was. I would have actually liked to have seen the fight go down the straight, but maybe we’ll see that next time,” said Hearn.
Estrada fought well at times, but he wasn’t consistent enough to succeed against the bigger, stronger, and younger Bam Rodriguez.
