Naoya Inoue fired back at promoter Eddie Hearn and the fans running away from her #1 contender in the WBA, Murodjon Ahmadaliyev. Japanese star Naoya feels there is no immediate need to defend his four super bantamweight titles against Murojon, especially given his loss a year ago to one of his victims, Marlon Tapales, on April 8, 2023.
Hearn looked furious last Saturday night, urging Naoya to defend against Ahmadali next following the 2016 Olympian’s third-round knockout victory over scheduled opponent Ricardo Espinoza (30-5, 25 KOs) at the Salle des Etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco .
During the post-fight interview, Matchroom promoter Hearn waggled his finger, lecturing Inoue, ranting about “Uzbekistan Power” and other nonsense to claim that the Japanese star had to defend himself against Ahmadali. Of course, it’s not Naoya’s fault that he failed against Tapales. If Murojon had done what he needed to do against Tapales, there would have been no problem.
“Zero need” remark.
Espinoza, 27, was not a superior opponent, and he was brought in to make Ahmadaliyev look like pure 24k gold, which he did. Inoue was not fooled. He saw the fight for what it was and didn’t want it to end, volunteering to give former IBF and WBA champion Akhmadaliev, who promoted Hearn, the fight he demanded.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) says there is “zero need” to fight Ahmadaliyev (13-1, 10 KOs) for the following reasons:
- Lost to Marlon Tapales
- Ahmadaliyev should retain value
- It has to wait
- Naoya already has a fight scheduled against Sam Goodman
Inoue defends his undisputed super bantamweight championship against IBF No. 1 and WBO No. 1 contender Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) next month on January 24 at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan. Inoue was originally scheduled to fight Goodman on December 24 at the venue, but the Australian suffered a cut over his right eye in his last sparring session. The fight should have been postponed.
“Why do I have to run away from someone who lost to Tapales? 🤷♂ No need for that…If you want to fight, keep the “value” of winning and wait!! Now I am completely focused on the Goodman fight. @AkhmadalievMj,” said Naoia Inoue Ksciting his reasons for dropping out of the fight against his #1 VBA contender