Minor league legend Nonito Donaire gave his take on a potential matchup between Naoya Inoue and Jesse Rodriguez, believing one man has the skills to win.
Earlier this month, Inoue successfully defended his undisputed super bantamweight crown for the seventh time, defeating three-time world champion Junto Nakatani by unanimous decision.
Their all-Japanese encounter was somewhat restrained until Nakatani picked up the pace between rounds eight and ten, when “The Monster” suddenly began to worry.
However, in response, Inoue managed to retain his four major titles and finish forceful in the competition, maintaining his status as a top star in the two-pound-for-pound division.
Apart from the 33-year-old, many consider Rodriguez to be one of the sport’s flagship operators, especially after his consecutive stoppages against Phumelela Cafu and Fernando Martinez.
These two victories unified the super flyweight division last year, but now “Bam” is fighting for a three-weight world title against Antonio Vargas.
The fight for Vargas’ WBA bantamweight title will take place on June 13and Rodriguez would complete that assignment before moving up to 122 pounds.
The question should therefore be when, not if, the 26-year-old will collide with Inoue, who represents a naturally larger and more experienced player.
But despite these advantages, Donaire said Ring that he believes Rodriguez has the skills to beat Inoue, who outpaced and stopped the Filipino in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
“In terms of technical skills and the way Bam fights, he is definitely at the top and can beat Inoue.
“Bam has all the skills, but being a smaller guy is going to be a huge disadvantage to his style. The question is: Is Bam huge enough to apply his dominance and his style? Because if you’re a smaller guy, it’s very tough to do everything he does.
“But in terms of skill and ability, I think he will beat both Inoue and Nakatani if they mix them up. He has the ability to do that.”
According to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, preliminary talks about a fight between Inoue and “Bam” have already taken place and the pair are expected to perform at the Tokyo Dome early next year.