WBA, Inoue Reach a Modus Vivendi; MJ Akhmadaliev Appears "Abandoned"
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 19 Jul 2024
Inoue (L) and Akhmadaliev (R).
It can be said that the WBA and the camp of "The Monster" Naoya Inoue have reached a modus vivendi that allowed Inoue to keep his WBA title without fighting the organization's mandatory challenger Morudjon Akhmadaliev within the year.
This can be deduced from the official announcement that Inoue will be defending "all his belts" against ex IBF titlist TJ Doheny on September 3, 2024 in Tokyo.
The announcement was made by the Ohashi Promotion which said that a WBA super lightweight title eliminator will even form part of the fight card. That will involve WBA interim super lightweight titlist Ismael Barroso versus WBA #7 Andy Hiraoka, the winner becoming mandatory to regular WBA champion Isaac Cruz.
Earlier, talks were rife that Inoue may be stripped of WBA belt for defying WBA mandate that he defends it versus Akhmadaliev. Inoue seemed ready to lose the belt in order to pursue a fight with Doheny who is more known and therefore more sellable to Japanese fans supporting his co promoter Bob Arum's statement that "boxing primarily is business".
However, a startling revelation also emanated from promoter Ohashi that even in the event of Doheny's unavailability due to some reasons, MJ Akhmadaliev will still be out of the picture as another Japanese rated super bantamweight Toshiki Somamichi will be tapped as replacement.
After this fight, Inoue is scheduled to make a mandatory defense against IBF and WBO #1 Sam Goodman of Australia possibly in December, also in Japan.
That means Akhmadaliev has to wait until spring of 2025 at the earliest for his chance.
Meanwhile, MJ has yet to see action this year, his last fight being against Kevin Gonzalez last December 2023 yet which he won by TKO.
Seemingly "abandoned" by the WBA, MJ now has to face the prospect of sitting out the year, which is even worse.
But knowing his handlers including Eddie Hearns of Matchroom especially, they will not take such WBA "abandonment" sitting down.
My wild guess is that the Akhmadaliev people will petition WBA for MJ to be pitted against either #2 Ramon Cardenas or #3 Elijah Pierce for at least the WBA interim super bantamweight title by this fall.
That will not only assuage hurt feelings but also give MJ a stay busy fight that would fortify his mandatory status for a crack at Inoue in the first quarter of next year.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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