Naoya Inoue is not someone to run away from challenges. The undefeated, undisputed super bantamweight champion is one of the scariest and the greatest fighters in modern boxing. After the postponement from its initial date in December, the ‘Monster’ is now ready to lock horns with Sam Goodman on January 24th at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Japan, in his third undisputed title defense.

However, the 31-year-old came under scrutiny a few days ago when former unified super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev called him out alongside Eddie Hearn. The Matchroom head honcho accused Inoue of ducking his fighter as ‘MJ’ is now the mandatory challenger for Naoya Inoue’s WBA title. The Kanagawa native didn’t let this slide and rained down all the accusations while ridiculing Akhmadaliev.

Naoya Inoue focused on Goodman

The 31-year-old took to his ‘X’ and wrote, “Why do I have to run away from someone who lost to Tapales? 🤷‍♂️. There’s zero need for it…” referring to Akhmadaliev’s loss against Marlon Tapales last year. To put it in context, MJ lost his WBA (Super) and IBF titles to Tapales. A few months later, in December, Naoya Inoue unified the division by defeating Tapales to become the undisputed champion and has already defended his title twice since then.

The ‘Monster’ further advised Akhmadaliev to be patient and keep winning his fights. “If you want to fight, keep the “value” of winning and wait!!” wrote Inoue in Japanese. Interestingly, Akhmadaliev has only fought twice since losing to Tapales in April 2023 and has only fought once this year. So, even though he is the mandatory challenger, he hasn’t done enough to justify his call-out. 

On the other hand, Inoue has been fighting regularly since winning the undisputed title, and his fight against his IBF mandatory Sam Goodman was supposed to be his third defense in 2024, before it got delayed to January 2025, due to Goodman suffering a cut above his left eye. However, Naoya Inoue made it clear that “Now I’m fully focused on the Goodman fight,” and would think about Uzbek’s challenge only after that.

While Inoue is not losing his sleep because of MJ’s challenge, Akhmadaliev and Eddie Hearn are desperate. Not only because it is a huge opportunity, but it will also provide a substantial payday for both of them.

Murodjon Akhmadaliev not letting Inoue off that easily

After winning his fight against Ricardo Espinoza via a three-round KO last week in Monaco, Akhmadaliev called out Inoue in a brutal fashion. He didn’t hold back and demanded an answer from the undisputed champion. He remarked, “If he don’t wanna fight me, he just needs to explain,” through a translator.

Akhmadaliev further added, “When I was the champion, I followed the rules. And he should follow the rules as well,” claiming that as the interim WBA super bantamweight champion, he should get the opportunity after Goodman.

Naoya Inoue’s calendar is full of mandatory challengers at this point. He will fight the WBO/IBF mandatory Sam Goodman in January. Following that WBC mandatory challenger Alan Picasso Romero is also in line followed by Murodjon Akhmadaliev. While WBA has ordered the fight twice, Eddie Hearn has claimed that ‘MJ’ should be next according to the bet rotation. However, according to reports, Inoue’s camp is slightly leaning more towards Romero.

If the Japanese star decides to fight Romero, it will further fuel up the attacks by Hearn and MJ. However, it doesn’t look like the undisputed champion is sweating too much about it. What are your views on Naoya Inoue’s reply? Do you think he is ducking Akhmadaliev? Let us know your thoughts down below.