Jesse Rodriguez is coming off a knockout win against Antonio Vargas, capturing the WBA bantamweight titl and moving closer to facing Naoya Inoue in the process.
Following Inoue’s win over Junto Nakatani last month, he has been linked with a pound-for-pound showdown against Rodriguez, who vacated his unified super-flyweight crown ahead of the Vargas bout.
Rodriguez required only six rounds to dethrone the bantamweight champion upon his debut in the division, but admitted that he felt a real difference in the new division.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, two-weight world champion Tim Bradley advised Rodriguez to spend some more time in the bantamweight division before he moves up once more in pursuit of a shot at Inoue’s undisputed super-bantamweight title.
“Bam has tremendous skills, pound-for-pound, Inoue is on the pound-for-pound list, but is he ready right now, like the next fight? Hell no. I think that Bam needs a couple more touches.
“I think that Robert Garcia is a lot smarter than [people realise]. Robert Garcia just answering questions is one thing, but the Robert Garcia that I talk to is a very smart trainer, in a sense of how he moves his fighters, he is a manager too.”
“He knows that Bam is not ready and he knows that performance was a little shaky, as well, because one thing about Robert Garcia is that he is real and he was a former fighter, so he understands.”
Bradley previously predicted that Inoue would prove to be ‘too explosive’ for the Texan and, after seeing Rodriguez take on Vargas, he has doubled down.
“I don’t think he is ready yet, this jump to 118lbs against this particular champion, who has been knocked out before, that chin was there for the taking. I feel like, even during the fight, I felt like Bam’s power didn’t translate like I did at 115lbs.”
“If Bam brought this type of performance to an Inoue fight, it wouldn’t go past six rounds.”
Inoue-Rodriguez is being slated for January 2027, with WBO bantamweight world champion Christian Medina believed to be next on Rodriguez’s radar.