Naoya Inoue has fired back at promoter Eddie Hearn and the fans that he is running from WBA #1 contender Murodjon Akhmadaliev. Japanese star Naoya feels there is no pressing need to defend his four super bantamweight titles against Murodjon, especially with his loss a year ago to one of his victims, Marlon Tapales, on April 8, 2023.
Hearn looked like he was furious last Saturday night, yelling at Naoya to defend against Akhmadaliev after the 2016 Olympian’s third-round knockout victory over rematch contender Ricardo Espinoza (30-5, 25 KOs) at the Salle des Étoiles. Monte Carlo, Monaco.
During the post-fight interview, Matchroom promoter Hearn wagged his finger, lecturing Inoue, chattering about “Uzbek Power” and other nonsense to argue that the Japanese star had to defend against Akhmadaliev. Of course, it’s not Naoya’s fault that he failed in his match with Tapales. If Murodjon had done the right thing against Tapales, there would have been no problem.
The “zero need” observation.
Espinoza, 27, was not a top-flight opponent and was brought in to make Akhmadaliev look like pure 24-carat gold, which he did. Inoue was not fooled. Seeing the fight for what it was and not going to go heel, he volunteered to give the Hearn-promoted former IBF and WBA 122-lb champion Akhmadaliev the fight he demanded.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) says there is “zero need” to fight Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KOs) for the following reasons:
- Lost by Marlon Tapales
- Akhmadaliev must maintain his value
- He must wait
- Naoya already has a match scheduled against Sam Goodman
Inoue defends his undisputed super bantamweight championship against IBF and WBO #1 contender Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) next month on January 24 at Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan . Inoue was originally scheduled to fight Goodman on December 24 at this location, but the Australian suffered a cut over his right eye in his final sparring session. The match had to be postponed.
“Why should I run away from someone who lost to Tapales? 🤷♂️ There is no need… If you want to fight, keep the “value” of victory and wait!! I am now fully focused on Goodman’s fight. @AkhmadalievMj,” said Naoya Inoue Xgiving the reasons why he turned down a fight against the WBA #1 contender
