Robert Garcia explains why Inoue wants Jesse fight now

Jesse Rodriguez’s trainer believes Naoya Inoue is pushing to make the fight happen sooner rather than later.

Robert Garcia, the longtime trainer of Jesse Rodriguez, spoke in an interview with FightHype about a possible bout between his protégé and Naoya Inoue. Garcia explained that Naoya Inoue’s team wants to move forward with negotiations gradually and is also starting to apply pressure to finally get the bout off the ground. According to Garcia, this seems to be working.

“I don’t think Inoue is ducking [Bam] but I do think he is pressuring it to happen now, and he might get away with it. As of now, you know, I still haven’t got a date for Bam this year, so they’re pushing it…It looks like he’s pressuring the promoters and the media to force us to get into the fight and there’s a reason why. He knows the more he waits, the easier it gets for Bam. He’s 34, 35, he’s had many training camps, he’s been dropped a few times. He makes mistakes, also. I also wanted another fight [in between] but…we can go straight into the fight, 100%…Inoue makes mistakes, I’ve been studying him. He makes mistakes and Bam is perfect to catch him on those mistakes”

he said.

This matchup has been discussed many times, but for a variety of reasons, an agreement hasn’t been reached yet. Over time, both sides have been blamed for why it hasn’t worked out so far. Hopefully it will work out this time, since this matchup would be a huge bonus for everyone.

I’d be a huge fan of this matchup. I hope it happens because I find both fighters very interesting. I’m really curious to see how the preparations are going, since I’m genuinely interested in what kind of shape they’re in. As things stand now, I’d say I see Naoya Inoue as the favorite, but of course that could still change. What do you guys think?