Naoya Inoue’s Timeline to Return to Boxing, Revealed
Naoya Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs) was one of boxing’s most active fighters with four bouts in 2025, but he has fought just once in 2026 and reportedly will not return until 2027.
Inoue bloodied his Japanese rival Junto Nakatani en route to a unanimous decision win. He then spoke of his relief at the result, with the official scorecards showing that Nakatani remained competitive before Inoue clinched the victory in the championship rounds.
“I will discuss with Mr [Hideyuki] Ohashi my future plan,” he said.
One opponent he could possibly face is fellow pound-for-pound fighter and American bantamweight Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KOs).
The 26-year-old is a three-weight champion and has meaningful wins over Juan Francisco Estrada, Sunny Edwards and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Rodriguez’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, as well as Turki Alalshikh, have both positioned “Bam” as a future opponent for Inoue.
Rodriguez also expressed his eagerness to fight Inoue earlier this summer.
“If that fight was presented to me now, I’d definitely go and take it … If I were to fight out there [in Japan] for the first time, that would be great,” Rodriguez said.
Inoue’s US agent has reportedly imposed a deadline of March 2027 to get the fight finalized.