THE MONSTER v BAM — IT'S ON THE TABLE !!

A month ago Naoya Inoue said he was done waiting and was getting ready for featherweight.

Now ?

The WBC says his team is negotiating with Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez.

That's not a rumour from a podcast. That came out of the WBC's own mandatories session at the convention in Acapulco this week.

No. 1 pound-for-pound against No. 4.

Inoue — 33-0, 27 KOs, four-weight world champion, undisputed at 122.
Rodriguez — 24-0, 17 KOs, three-weight world champion, and he just went up to bantam in June and stopped Antonio Vargas in six to take the WBA belt.

Two unbeaten men. Nobody ducking anybody.

Inoue's agent John Lewis told The Ring last month: "I'm working with Matchroom to make it happen. Both fighters want it."

The talk is Tokyo, in March, at super bantamweight.

And look what the WBC did with the rest of the division while the big boys talk — they ordered Junto Nakatani and Ramon Cardenas to fight for the interim title.

So the Monster gets the superfight.
And the two men who gave him the most trouble fight each other for the right to be next.

That's how you run a division.

Can Bam carry his power up another weight against the best fighter on the planet ?
Or does Inoue add one more name to a list nobody else can touch ?

Nothing is signed yet.

But if this gets done, Japan has the fight of 2027 !!

🇯🇵 NAOYA INOUE (33-0, 27 KOs) vs JESSE "BAM" RODRIGUEZ (24-0, 17 KOs) 🇺🇸
🥊 Undisputed Super Bantamweight Championship (in negotiation)
📅 Early 2027 — Tokyo in March reported as the target
📺 TBA

Stay tuned !

Sources:
WBC (11 Nov 2026) — https://wbcboxing.com/en/wbc-mandatories-in-acapulco-decisions-across-all-18-divisions/
Yahoo Sports / Uncrowned, Darshan Desai (11 Nov 2026) — https://sports.yahoo.com/boxing/article/wbc-convention-updates-on-canelo-alvarezs-next-fight-naoya-inoue-david-benavidez-and-more-215615119.html
Fightnews, Bob Newman (11 Nov 2026) — https://fightnews.com/wbc-convention-day-3-mandatory-defenses-and-more/200179
The Ring, Mike Coppinger (24 Oct 2026) — https://www.wbceurasia.org/news/inoue-bam-work-to-finalize-deal-for-tokyo-showdown
Bad Left Hook (11 Nov 2026) — https://www.badlefthook.com/boxing-news/120291/the-good-the-bad-and-the-stupid-from-the-wbc-convention