Hearn reveals Netflix’s interest in one of the biggest fights in boxing.
Netflix’s entry into boxing featured the bizarre spectacle between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, a highly anticipated affair that ultimately left a lot of viewers disappointed.
Still, it garnered a lot of attention, attracting viewers from outside the immediate boxing circle. And given that, it’s clear they did something right.
Next was Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3, a trilogy match between two of the best women’s fighters in the world. And after that, the blockbuster event featuring Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford.
Then it was back to the more odd side of things when Jake Paul fought Anthony Joshua. But most recently, Netflix broadcast Tyson Fury’s comeback bout against Arslanbek Makhmudov.
They are also expected to be streaming the long-awaited battle of Britain between Fury and fellow heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua, a bout tabbed to occur this November.
And it appears that their aim is to keep going higher, as Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn has revealed that they have directly expressed interest in showcasing a fight between Naoya Inoue and Jesse Rodríguez.
“Turki Alalshikh, Netflix … we’ve spoken to them”, Hearn told The Ring. “They wanna see the fight. [It’s] the biggest fight for Inoue by a mile.”
Inoue is considered by most to be the best boxer in the world, being placed at number one on the majority of pound-for-pound lists. Last month, he only enhanced his reputation by beating countryman Junto Nakatani.
Rodríguez, meanwhile, isn’t considered to be too far behind himself and is coming off a destruction of Fernando Martinez, but is set to make his bantamweight debut against WBA champion Antonio Vargas in under two weeks’ time.
“Vargas is a good fighter, tough opponent,” Hearn stated, “and that’s next week. It’s coming around so quick. And if ‘Bam’ [Rodríguez] comes through that, he’ll be calling Inoue out in the ring that night.”
Rodríguez is the current unified super-flyweight champion, but when he makes his move up to bantamweight, he will be just one division below undisputed super-bantamweight king Inoue.
“It’s a massive, massive fight for Japan [where Inoue vs. Rodríguez will likely take place]”, said Hearn. “Jesse can beat him, and it would be an unbelievable move to become a four-division world champion. Next week, he goes for the third division. So, really, with [Oleksandr] Usyk probably on his way out and obviously [almost] losing to Rico [Verhoeven], it’s really #1 and #2, essentially–pound-for-pound–fighting each other.”
There are plenty who believe that Rodríguez might just be the man to topple the Japanese legend. But with the advantage in experience and having been present at the highest level for longer, others have Inoue being too much for the 7-years-younger American.
However, no matter what happens, a fight between two unbeaten multi-division champions (who also happen to be guaranteed future Hall-of-Famers) simply must happen for the health of competition, for the health of combat sports, and for the health of boxing.
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