Now retired, Terence Crawford has a number of big fights he wants to watch as a fan, one of which includes Naoya Inoue.
Inoue has won titles in four weight divisions so far, but has notably dominated at both bantamweight and super-bantamweight, where he became one of the three multi-divisional undisputed world champions of the four-belt era.
Now, ‘The Monster’ is set for his toughest test to date, tasked with countryman and fellow pound-for-pound star, Junto Nakatani, who has also maintained his undefeated record whilst claiming world honours in three weight classes.
Whilst fans are eager for Inoue to move up to featherweight following his clash with Nakatani, the 32-year-old has revealed plans to remain at 122lbs for one more fight after his domestic dust-up.
Speculation on who Japan’s premier force may have in mind for his final super-bantamweight outing has begun, particularly considering he has more-or-less cleaned out the division in his three years at the weight.
However, Terence Crawford will be hoping that Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez will be the target, having told Dani Pirrello that he would love to see that fight.
“I would love to see ‘Bam’ [Jesse Rodriguez] versus [Naoya] Inoue.”
Rodriguez looks set to take on Antonio Vargas upon his bantamweight debut in June, as the unified super-flyweight world champion moves one division closer to Inoue, potentially teeing up another blockbuster showdown for boxing’s much-debated pound-for-pound king.
‘Bam’ and trainer Robert Garcia have expressed interest in jumping up further to face Inoue, and the match-up has all the ingredients to warrant the interest of boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh, who works with both men.