Who Said Anything About AVOIDING Espinosa???... Personally, REED Thinks Being 6'2 Leaves MORE of Espinosa to Be Hit by Inoue, Particularly to the Body...REED is Only Countering Neil's Point About Anything OTHER than Espinosa Being a BULLSHIT Fight for Inoue @ '26...6'2 Featherweight or Bust??? Admittedly, Brandon Figueroa's a Bullshit Fight for Inoue, But if He's a Necessary Step Towards Ultimately UNIFYING '26, So Be It...Angelo Leo ISN'T a Bullshit Fight @ All...& Shu Shu in MSG is Easily the Biggest, Most Mainstream Fight of Inoue's AMERICAN Career... A Black, NYC Shit Talker is EXACTLY Who Inoue Needs to Be Matched w/in the States... REED
lets not make carrington out to be kevin kelley. i like the guy but he's beat absolutely no one and has looked mediocre half the time lately. angelo leo is ok. he clearly wants it seeing how he went to japan to make himself known. thats an ok fight but inoue will be -1500 favorite.
Well considering he’s already 33 years old and has had multiple fights and title defenses in a short amount of time and is almost at the twilight of his career I’d say it makes sense that he’s not going to just wait around on Bam since he wants to move up one more time before retiring. Hes giving Bam a chance of a super fight. It’s up to Bam if he wants to fight Inoue before he makes his move to 126.
Inoue isn’t the kind of fighter to intentionally duck anyone. He’ll most likely face off with any of the top 126 fighters including Espinoza. These 126 champs though need to start fighting each other though instead of waiting on Inoue to move up. Espinoza, Figueroa, Leo, and Carrington should be fighting in a unification bout. They need to start putting more life into this division.
Im a bit of an Inoue critique, but I agree with you. While his resume is lacking for an ATG, i dont think its his fault. I dont doubt hell try to fight the best (and Bam) at 126. And definitely agree on the second part of your post. Nothing more frustrating than fighters waiting for a big fight to fall on their lap, instead of working to getting it.
He has 2 wins over Nonito Donaire, who I personally consider as an ATG. I’d say it was more frustrating that he couldn’t get a fight with Chocolatito, although to be fair he did show desire for that fight but Chocolatito had no interest. Inoue fighting Bam would at least make up for that. The 126 division is stacked with good fighters but it’s been a frustrating division. It’s why I don’t get why people think Inoue needs to fight each of these guys one by one when they can be facing off against each other. Inoue fighting the winners of any of those match ups would make the fight more worthwhile.
Donaire was considered washed when he faced Inoue. Granted, he had a bit of a career resurgence after the first fight, but it clearly wasnt a prime donaire. But as you said, you cant blame him for that
Can’t take away those victories from him though, Donaire was still a solid fighter by the time Inoue got to him. Inoue at least has a victory over a future HOFer. Bam looks to be someone who might also be a future HOFer as well so if Inoue manages to beat him then that’s another great fighter on his resume.
Bam and his team are taking too long to get things going and have been constantly pushing back on when they feel ready. Inoue ain’t wasting more time on them, he’s got bigger fishes to fry at 126.
If inoue is gonna go up to face espinoza then great. I can't knock it. If hes gonna fight Carrington, leo or figueroa then he may as well take a title defense at 122 and face rodriguez in the summer. Also, hearn claims rodriguez will go to Japan for the fight in feb/March like inoue wants
Bam doesn’t seem ready for the Monster from the looks of it. If that ship with Naoya Inoue ends up sailing then he’s better off facing Takuma Inoue instead.
Rodriguez would beat takuma withinoue an inchoue of his life I just worry that big brother would want revenge at that point and try to force Rodriguez up to 126 where he'd have an even bigger edge
REED Thinks Beating Lil' Bro Takuma Could Have the OPPOSITE Effect On Bam...It'd Give Him a Bit of LEVERAGE On Big Bro Naoya, Who Would Obviously Be In It for Revenge, as You've Stated... Bam Could Potentially Negotiate a CATCHWEIGHT Into the Mix, Instead of 126... REED
if inoue wants some 124 lb bullshit Ill lose respect for him. even if he goes up to beat carrington he should drop back down to 122, he's not a young kid starving to make super bantam. ideally he should just do a defense at 122 next. rematch with cardenas ideally. inoue has been entertaining this matchup, so why widen the weight gap vs the clearly smaller fighter? rodriguez could probably still make 112 if he wanted.
Inoue is Already 33 and Putting the FINISHING Touches On His Career Bruh....Why Would He Rematch a Dangerous Guy Like Cardenas When a Title in a 5th Weight Class is Attainable???.... REED Wants to See Bam vs Inoue Also, But Time AIN'T On Inoue's Side...He's ALREADY Shown Signs of Decline in His Last Several Fights and Can't Tread Water Waiting On Bam... REED
That's fine, then dont talk about fighting the guy A win over rodriguez would do much more for his legacy than winning a alphabet title in another division vs Carrington or figueroa
Rodriguez would be by far Inoue best win. Really dissapointing if he moves up in weight and the fight never gets made.
Inoue doesn’t need to keep waiting on Bam. If Bam really wanted that fight with Inoue he would have already made an effort to make it happen ASAP but would rather take a tune up to feel confident. Inoue and Bud didn’t waste any time with tune ups when they moved up in weight and went straight for the man with the title. If Bam and Inoue end up not fighting then so be it. Inoue doesn’t lose much out of it and Bam can still continue building his career without him.
Inoue said his next fight will be feb/March. Rodriguez promoter said they will take the fight in Japan then. Whats the issue whether he takes another fight in between ?
It’s 4 months away from the date that Inoue wants a fight to take place, Bam and his team would rather have another fight first yet there hasn’t been any upcoming fights announced making it impossible for them to squeeze a fight and then be ready for Inoue within that time frame, Garcia said they prefer to have it around April / May because “the weather is nicer”, and they think they’re being slick by thinking they can continuously make Inoue wait on their time when he’s made it clear that it was now or never. I think Inoue is in the right feel this way and wants to to make his move to 126 now without stalling.
