Naoya Inoue insists that he has strong interest in facing John Riel Casimero in a title unification fight that was cancelled earlier this year.
The Japanese fighter known as “The Monster” has been accused of dodging Casimero since a decision was made to put on hold the April 25 that would put the WBA, IBF and WBO bantamweight belts on the line.
Casimero made short work of Duke Micah last Sept. 26 in Connecticut to retain the WBO crown while Inoue stopped Australian Jason Moloney with a seventh-round knockout to keep both the WBA and IBF belts Saturday night in his Las Vegas debut.
“Basically, Casimero has the WBO title. That’s the reason I would want to fight him,” Inoue told BoxingScene.com prior to his victory over Moloney at the MGM Grand.
It was Inoue’s fifth straight win while opening the door for a future fight with Casimero, that is if negotiations won’t bug down.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire that a Inoue-Casimero fight could happen in March.
If that pushes through, Inoue already has Casimero’s figured out.
“Casimero has one-punch knockout power, but he has a lot of other weaknesses as well,” Inoue said. “Moloney doesn’t really have that one-punch knockout power, but he’s a good all-around fighter.
“Moloney can fight in any way. He can come and brawl, or he can box. So, I’ll adjust to that based on how he comes out.”