Is “The Monster” afraid? Superb ring king Naoya Inoue, the current unified four-belt champ at 122 pounds, hasn’t looked scared of anything or anybody during his hugely impressive ring career, yet right now, former WBA and IBF super-bantamweight champ Murodjon Akhmadaliev is saying Inoue is “trying to avoid fighting me.”
The southpaw warrior from Uzbekistan lost his two belts to Marlon Tapales, this via a close, controversial 12-round split decision in April of 2023, so Tapales got the big fight with Inoue, with him being stopped in 10 rounds. After bouncing back with a stoppage win over Kevin Gonzalez in December, “MJ” hoped he would be back on Inoue’s radar. But instead, as fans have read, Inoue will likely face TJ Doheny next, in September. Meanwhile, Inoue is likely to end his year with a defence against IBF mandatory Sam Goodman in December.
Akhmadaliev, 12-1(9), isn’t happy. He feels he is far more worthy of a fight with Inoue than is Doheny.
“I feel like I was supposed to fight Inoue when Tapales fought him,” Akhmadaliev told RingTV.com. “Tapales did not have much success against him and I feel I can be a much more competitive fight. I’m not in a rush to fight him. I can fight him in December, but I do believe they will not fight me. Obviously, TJ Doheny is not a top contender in the weight class right now. I believe they are trying to avoid the fight with me. It feels like with him being such a legend and pound-for-pound fighter that he should be fighting top opposition even if they’re not mandatories and I feel I’m one of the top fighters in the division.”
It did indeed come as a surprise when it was reported that Inoue, 27-0(24), would be fighting Doheny, 26-4(20) next. But as far as Inoue looking to avoid Akhmadaliev, well, that’s more than likely a stretch. Inoue cannot fight everyone, after all. However, “MJ” is the current WBA mandatory, so unless Inoue vacates or moves up and vacates, the fight will happen sometime fairly soon.
If so, will Inoue make Akhmadaliev eat his words? Inoue, as special as he is, is widely expected to defeat both Doheny and Goodman.
