As fight fans may have read by now, unified 122-pound King Naoya Inoue has been ordered to face former two-belt super bantamweight champ Murodjon Akhmadaliev next. Inoue and Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev have until July 14 to reach an agreement.
Inoue, 27-0(24), has spoken in the past of his desire to fight the former WBA and IBF 122-pound ruler; Inoue feels the now 12-(9) Akhmadaliev can give him a testing fight. Maybe he can. If this fight comes off, it could be an exciting addition to the summer schedule.
Akhmadaliev is a former Olympian, and he has been beaten only by Marlon Tapales at the pro level. Of course, Marlon Tapales was stopped by Inoue in an exciting affair a while back.
Since losing his two belts to Tapales, Akhmadaliev has bounced back well, with him stopping Kevin Gonzalez in the 8th round in what was a WBA eliminator in December.
Inoue has said he sill stick around at 122 pounds until his body tells him to ro otherwise. His move to featherweight is anticipated by many fans, and it could be Akhmadaliev next in Inoue’s reign as super bantamweight king.
As with any 122 pounder you care to mention, Akhmadaliev would enter the ring as a significant underdog if he did face Inoue, but the warrior from Uzbekistan can bang, he has skills, and plenty of people felt he was hard done by in the points loss to Tapales.
We all saw “The Monster” take a fall in his last fight, albeit a brief one, with him coming back to punish Luis Nery. But fighters such as Akhmadaliev will have seen the knockdown as a sign that, yeah, Inoue is human……he can be hurt, he can be beaten.
Akhmadaliev might be the guy who gets the next shot at taking the Japanese star Naoya Inoue down if the contest takes place.
