Figueroa Wants To Face Inoue, How Far Can ‘The Monster’ Move Up?

Brandon Figueroa is keen on facing four-division champion Naoya Inoue later down the line. 

Inoue is a man in demand following a spectacular stoppage-win over the, then, undefeated fighter Stephen Fulton.

As a result, he picked up the WBC and WBO super bantamweight belts. Thereafter, the attention turned towards an undisputed bout with Marlon Tapales.

The former holds the IBF and WBA belts. And if Inoue were to beat Tapales, then a move up to 126 lbs could follow. That is where Figueroa could come into play.

Following his own loss to Fulton, Figueroa moved up to 126 lbs. The boxer has managed to rejuvenate his career, as a win over  Mark Magsayo made him the WBC’s interim champion.

And now a fight with Inoue is something that Figueroa wants to happen. 

“Inoue vs. me would be a good fight. I think any fight vs. me would be a great fight because I come to fight. I’m happy to fight the best of the best and I would love to fight Inoue as well,” Figueroa

Despite this being the case, trainer Andre Rozier has questioned how far up Inoue can go. It is true to say that weight classes do exist for a reason, something which Mikey Garcia demonstrated in his loss to Errol Spence Jr.

Garcia moved up two-weight classes after claiming he ‘saw’ something in Spence, and yet, he was outclassed in 12 rounds.

Although that may be the case, Inoue has been compared to Manny Pacquiao, who did become an eight-division champion. However, for Rozier, he felt 126 lbs was too much for Inoue.

“I think 122 is it for him. I think if he goes to 26, those guys will be a little bit bigger. I think it would be a little bit too much for him. I [also] think Loma is entirely too big for Inoue. Lomachenko is all that, punching power, speed, angles. Let’s keep the monster where the monster belongs,” Rozier

Ultimately, Inoue is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters around. So time will tell how far he can keep moving up. You can stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in the world of boxing by visiting boxingblitz right here.