Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue will have to look elsewhere for his next dance partner, as ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez reported yesterday that negotiations between Inoue and WBC mandatory challenger Alan Picasso collapsed.
Hideyuki Ohashi of Ohashi Boxing Gym accused Picasso’s (31-0-1, 17 KO) father of pulling the plug, while a recent article from Marca claims that Erik Morales advised Picasso that he wasn’t yet ready for “The Monster” (29-0, 26 KO). Either way, Inoue has some tinkering to do if he wants to keep his four-fight 2025 on track.
Per Rodriguez, Ramon Cardenas, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, and Bryan Mercado are potentially in line to face Inoue on May 4th. A more recent update claims that Akhmadaliev will get the call, with Cardenas stepping in in September.
Akhmadaliev is by far the best option of the four presented, and beating him will make it hard to argue that Inoue hasn’t completely cleared the table at 122. All that would remain would be the proposed superfight with Junto Nakatani, which is eyed for next year should Nakatani successfully unify the bantamweight division in 2025.