Robert Garcia, the trainer and manager of Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, has expressed his annoyance with a lack of communication from Team Nayoa Inoue.

‘The Monster’ made a seventh successful defence of his undisputed crown in May, unanimously outpointing Junto Nakatani in their all-Japanese encounter.

As a result, Inoue is not only considered the super-bantamweight king but, on a pound-for-pound metric, many would also place him at the top of the tree.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, made his bantamweight debut in June, becoming a three-division world champion by dethroning WBA champion Antonio Vargas with a sixth-round finish.

While there is much talk surrounding a potential clash between Rodriguez and Inoue, it would seem that no official negotiations have actually taken place.

Or at least, it is far from certain that the pair will square off in March 2027, when Inoue is reportedly looking to stage his next outing. He recently stated that he will not hang around at 122lbs waiting for ‘Bam’, and will move on if the fight does not happen in Q1 of 2027.

On the proposed showdown, coach Garcia has told Ring Magazine that he and ‘Bam’ have no problem with the deadline.

“There’s been talk that Inoue says he’s moving up [to featherweight] sooner than later – that he probably won’t wait [for the Rodriguez fight] past March of next year.

“We’re okay with that, but nobody’s told me that. Nobody from Inoue’s team has approached me saying, ‘Look, Robert. This is what Inoue wants. He wants to know if you guys are interested in the fight’.

“Yeah, we’re interested in the fight. But I’m not trying to change the date. I would love Bam to get one more fight at 118[lbs].”

Garcia went on to name WBO bantamweight champion Christian Medina as the ideal opponent for Rodriguez in November, before he hopefully steps up to 122lbs and challenges Inoue.

Teofimo Lopez has criticised his father for showing a lack of competence during his unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson.

‘The Takeover’ was handily outboxed and dethroned by Stevenson in January, winning just one round as his opponent became a four-division world champion at 140lbs.

As a result, Lopez is now moving up to 147lbs in an attempt to reinvent himself and become a three-weight world champion against Rolando Romero.

But while he felt a change in weight was most certainly needed, the 29-year-old saw no reason to dismiss his father, Teofimo Sr, as his head coach.

This is in spite of the fact that Lopez Sr was heavily ridiculed for his efforts in the corner at Madison Square Garden, where Stevenson’s route to victory was only made clearer by his bizarre style of coaching.

Rather than offering his son any words of advice, he just simply pointed out his flaws and gave the defending champion no direction on how to improve.

Lopez therefore confronted his father while speaking with Ring Magazinealbeit with no threats of employing a different trainer.

“Every son wants to make their father proud. When you got your father in that moment – when you’re bleeding; when they’re allowing Shakur to do all these extra things … and your trainer is not going you instructions – they’re just talking you down: ‘Where’s your power? Where’s this? You’re gonna hate yourself’ – all roads lead to [defeat].”

As he takes on WBA champion Romero at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, it should be interesting to see how Lopez’s corner shapes up between rounds.

In any event, the American will be under a fair amount of pressure to produce an improved performance.

Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn are scheduled to square off next month, and ‘King Ry’ has reacted to news that this will be the Briton’s final bout at welterweight, following a difficult weight cut.

Benn has not fought at 147lbs since a knockout victory over Chris van Heerden back in April 2022, but he was installed as the WBC’s mandatory challenger for the welterweight division earlier this year, after revealing his intentions of returning to the weight.

Reality seems to have hit home for ‘The Destroyer’ during this camp though, as he has already announced that this will be his last contest in the division following a brutal weight cutregardless of the outcome, signalling that he has outgrown the weight.

In a clip captured by Ring MagazineGarcia responded to Benn’s announcement and declared that his upcoming opponent is already making excuses ahead of their meeting.

“We know you can’t make weight. This is why Conor Benn said this is his last time at 147lbs. My guy is making excuses before he loses, who says that, ‘this is my last fight at 147’.

“My guy, you gonna go backwards just to get that a** whooped? Oh my gosh, bro. It’s fine, bro, he is just going to run into it. F**k that dude.”

Garcia-Benn takes place on Saturday, September 12, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia poised to take on current WBC cruiserweight titleholder Noel Mikaelian – although he may no longer be champion come fight week.