Naoya Inoue-Bam Rodriguez talks underway, says Eddie Hearn

Boxing’s biggest current superfight, which has been brewing in the background for months, may finally be (almost) ready to serve. Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn said negotiations are underway for a Naoya Inoue vs. Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez showdown, implying the fight could be in the offing.

“I had a meeting with a couple of broadcasters over the last couple of days,” Hearn told FightHype on Thursday while he was in Carson, California, for Saturday’s Diego Pacheco vs. Darius Fulghum show. “I had a meeting with Inoue's team this afternoon. We are actively negotiating.”

The sides have danced around the edges of the matchup since Rodriguez’s knockout of Antonio Vargas in his bantamweight debut last June. Rodriguez trainer Robert Garcia was firm at the time that he wanted to see his fighter, a 24-0 (16 KOs) former two-division unified champion, take at least one fight, perhaps against another bantamweight titleholder, to continue adjusting to his new weight before considering a challenge of Inoue.

But Inoue, 33-0 (27 KOs), may not have that kind of time. A four-division champion and the current undisputed junior featherweight champ, Inoue most recently toppled another Japanese great, Junto Nakatani, in Tokyo last May. But Inoue – now 33, outgrowing 122 pounds and with a slew of withering battles behind him – has pressed Rodriguez’s team in recent weeks because he believes the time for the fight is now, or maybe never.

“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,” Hearn said of Inoue. “And if I move to featherweight, we all know the fight will never happen.”

Rodriguez and Inoue are both the rare brand of modern fighter who runs head-on at big challenges, which is partly what makes the matchup so intriguing. Garcia is wise to consider the welfare of his fighter: Rodriguez is just 26 and would seem to have years of his prime remaining, and Inoue’s power (despite failing to produce a stoppage in any of his past three fights) is dangerous even when faced by elite opponents.

Even so, as the sides have kicked the tires on the matchup through the media in recent weeks, and after Inoue announced a move up to featherweight in October in what seemed like a last-ditch effort to force Rodriguez’s hand, Team Bam now seems to be leaning toward stepping up to Inoue.

“Robert and Bam are going to have a decision to make as to if they want to take that fight now or see if it happens in the future, which it probably won’t,” Hearn said. “But the deal’s got to be right. A lot of things got to be right.

“But I think Bam really, really wants the fight. So does Robert. But I think there’s a very good chance that fight could happen, but there’s still a lot of conversations to be had.”

Inoue and Rodriguez rank No. 1 and No. 3 on most reputable pound-for-pound lists (including BoxingScene’s rankings), which would make for a rare superfight in this era of boxing – and an even rarer blockbuster at the lower weights.

“Let’s be honest,” Hearn said, “you announce that fight, the whole boxing world just says, ‘That’s one of the greatest fights you could ever make.’”