Trainer Robert Garcia on Bam Rodriguez: 'He's thinking Naoya Inoue'

Maybe it’s manifesting, perhaps it’s intuition.

As unbeaten three-division champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez awaits updates from promoter Eddie Hearn regarding when he’ll fight next, Rodriguez trainer Robert Garcia said his fighter will be fully prepared for a superfight with Naoya Inoue early next year.

“We’re getting ready for another fight. There’s no date. But he’s already in camp, already sparring, looking good,” Garcia said of efforts to stage a bantamweight title unification bout for San Antonio’s Rodriguez, 24-0 (17 KOs), versus Mexico’s Cristian Medina for late December or early January.

Truth is, the momentum toward a showdown with four-division and undisputed junior featherweight champion Inoue, 33-0 (27 KOs), is already occupying Rodriguez’s mind, Garcia said.

Inoue’s Japanese promoter Hideyuki Ohashi reported earlier Wednesday that talks for a March 2027 megafight in Tokyo are “moving forward, going well.”

Earlier this year, Inoue drew 55,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome for his showdown with bantamweight titleholder and countryman Junto Nakatani.

Coming off a sixth-round knockout of Antonio Vargas to capture the WBA bantamweight belt in June, Rodriguez has stopped his past six opponents.  

“He’s not thinking about his next fight. He’s thinking Inoue,” Garcia said. “His body’s getting big, his confidence [is growing], his power is better and better.”

Garcia said he expects an update from Hearn by week’s end.  

“By the end of the week, we’ll know about Inoue,” Garcia said. “We’ll work it out. The plan is to continue to prepare as if he’s fighting at the end of the year. But if it’s going directly to Inoue, we’ll definitely consider it.”

Not surprisingly, Garcia likes his 26-year-old heavy puncher Rodriguez against the 33-year-old former Fighter of the Year Inoue.

“I know what I have. [‘Bam’s] been asking for it – him and his dad. They’ve been telling me, ‘Get me this fight, I know I’ll beat him,’” Garcia said.