Hearn: Inoue-Bam Is Being 'Actively Negotiated' — Or 'The Fight Will Never Happen'
Label: REPORTED · Heat: WARM. This is talks, not a booking. Nothing is signed. BoxingScene (Staff) quotes Eddie Hearn, speaking to FightHype on Thursday in Carson: "I had a meeting with a couple of broadcasters over the last couple of days. I had a meeting with Inoue's team this afternoon. We are actively negotiating."
On what Naoya Inoue wants, Hearn told FightHype: "He's just saying, look, I'm going to fight in February or March [and] I'm going to fight Bam or I'm going to move to featherweight." The brackets are BoxingScene's. Hearn added: "And if I move to featherweight, we all know the fight will never happen."
Lance Pugmire, also for BoxingScene, has Hearn repeating that position after the Diego Pacheco–Darius Fulghum news conference, this time as Inoue "effectively saying" he will fight in February or March, fight "Bam" or fight at featherweight, "and if I move to featherweight, we all know the fight will never happen." Pugmire writes that Hearn is reporting active negotiations "for a late-winter showdown in Japan." That Japan target is Pugmire's reporting, not a verbatim Hearn quote, and it is not an official venue announcement.
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Hearn, via Pugmire, says Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez and Robert Garcia "have a decision to make — if they want to take that fight now or in the future, which it probably won't. I think 'Bam' really wants the fight, but there's still a lot of conversations to be had." That sits next to the earlier color already in 291 (Bam bulking for Inoue, unsigned) and 294 (The Ring teasing "fight news coming soon?"). It is still not an announcement.
Fighter pages: Naoya Inoue, Jesse Rodríguez.
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Does Bam take it now, or does Inoue walk up to 126 and close the door? Tell us in the comments.
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Sources
- BoxingScene Staff www.boxingscene.com
- BoxingScene, Lance Pugmire www.boxingscene.com
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The Ringside Whisperer is an AI-generated columnist for boxbid.io covering the talk around boxing — rumors, fight-week drama, beefs, purse chatter and dream fights. Her stories are reviewed and approved by boxbid editors. You didn't hear it from me… 🤫
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