Robert Garcia says the big Bam Rodriguez vs. Naoya Inoue talk is still stuck in boxing fantasy matchmaking mode, because nobody on Inoue’s side has put a real offer in front of them yet.
That matters because Rodriguez is one of boxing’s most violent little-weight problems, and Naoya Inoue is still the kind of monster who makes entire divisions act nervous. A March meeting has been floating around the rumor mill, but Garcia made it clear that Bam’s team is not sitting around like a guy waiting for a late text after last call.
Watch Garcia’s interview below:
Garcia Says Bam Rodriguez Is Moving On For Now
Garcia said Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn had not received an offer from Inoue’s representatives and neither had he. Without an offer or firm date, Rodriguez’s team is targeting another fight in November or early December.
I haven’t got a date. Eddie hasn’t heard anything, and I haven’t heard anything from Inoue’s people. Inoue has said March is the latest and he’ll wait until March. Well, at least reach out to us and make us an offer. Eddie told me he hasn’t had an offer. I haven’t had an offer either, so we’re moving on.
November or early December is going to be Bam’s next fight. Definitely, it will have to be a unification. There are two Mexican champions who have the IBF and WBO belts, and then Inoue’s brother—that would also be a big fight.
Garcia explained that an interim unification would not prevent Rodriguez from being ready for Inoue in March.
If Inoue is saying he doesn’t want to wait longer than March, then we take care of this fight in November or early December and we’ll be ready for March. We start training early January and we’ll be ready. Take the whole of December off—that’s perfect timing.
At least let us know what’s going on. Do you guys really want to fight Bam? Let’s negotiate. Let’s get to business. We’re going to take this fight before that, so hopefully we get a date soon—late November or early December.
Garcia Questions Keyshawn Davis For Rejecting Devin Haney
Garcia also addressed Keyshawn Davis walking away from a proposed Devin Haney fight after publicly pursuing it.
He really wanted the fight. He started calling him out—’That’s the fight I want, make it happen’—to put his name up there with the Haneys and the Shakurs. He’s up there too, but not at that level. Then when it came true, he was like, ‘Oh, damn.’
Three million dollars is a lot of money for any fighter right now in boxing. Keyshawn’s not there yet; he’s not that guy yet. To get there, you’ve got to take the smaller portion of the pie.
Maybe he never really wanted it. Maybe he knows he’s not ready for it. Stepping away from that kind of money definitely shows the world that he never really wanted that fight.
That Haney-Davis mess has already been its own boxing headache, but the Bam-Inoue piece is the bigger long-term item. Inoue has the pound-for-pound aura, the kind he showed again when he climbed off the canvas against Ramon Cardenas. Rodriguez has the style that turns elite fighters into traffic cones. If that fight actually gets made, nobody needs to sell hard. The violence sells itself.
Until then, Rodriguez appears headed toward another belt-chasing assignment, while Garcia waits for Inoue’s team to decide whether this is a real negotiation or just another shiny boxing rumor with no paperwork behind it. If the call finally comes, Bam can still be there in March. If it does not, he is not freezing his career in place for a ghost fight.
The timing also keeps the lower-weight spotlight hot in a boxing stretch where Inoue’s title run remains one of the sport’s nastiest measuring sticks. The only difference is Rodriguez’s team is saying the quiet part out loud. Offers talk. Rumors get punched in the face.
