There is little to no chance of Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez being competitive with Naoya Inoue should the pound-for-pound fighters ever share a ring together in the near future.
That’s according to Hall-of-Fame boxer, Timothy Bradley Jr., who spoke in the immediate aftermath of Inoue’s conclusive decision win over Junto Nakatani — one of the most significant fights in Japanese history — which took place Saturday, May 2 at the Tokyo Dome.
Rodriguez has been a force in and below the 115-pound division but would have to rise to 122 pounds to meet Inoue. It has been suggested as a possible fight to make next, likely funded by Riyadh Season and/or Turki Alalshikh.
Bradley, though, is unconvinced Rodriguez can even look good, let alone win, expecting, instead, Inoue to crush him just like he has the others, advancing his pro record to 33-0 (27 KOs) after his latest victory.
“Man, that was a helluva fight,” said Bradley, reflecting on the match. “And we saw Inoue’s greatness.
“Inoue is something f****** else. He’s the truth.”
Analyzing exactly how Inoue won, Bradley said: “Look, it all started up front. We sitting up here, saying Nakatani is a defensive master but he wasn’t a defensive master in this fight. Inoue was getting his jab in, splitting that guard, and taking full advantage of Nakatani getting that lead hand in low … boy, that jab was cold from Inoue. He was burying that. Inoue has mastered that southpaw style.”
Bradley then focused on what might be a next — a fight between Inoue and ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.
“‘Bam’ bring your ass home. He gon’ mop your ass up too. I said it,” he finished. “You want to mess with the master, he’ll tune your ass up too.”
