Bam eyes Takuma before Naoya as Inoue storyline builds

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez may not go straight into a Naoya Inoue superfight, even if he beats Antonio Vargas this weekend.

Rodriguez moves up to bantamweight on Saturday in Arizona to challenge Vargas for the WBA title. A win would make him a three-division world champion and push him closer to the kind of fight fans are already dreaming about: Bam vs. Naoya Inoue.

But Rodriguez says there could be another step first - Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s brother and the WBC bantamweight champion. For Bam, beating Takuma could make the road to Naoya even bigger.

“Yeah, I think that [beating Takuma] is almost the perfect storyline to the [Naoya] Inoue fight,” Rodriguez said. “Beating his brother and then going in and fighting the second brother.”

For now, Rodriguez is not looking past Vargas. He called Saturday’s fight a tough assignment and said the future can wait until after June 13. But if Bam wins, the path could get very interesting: a bantamweight title fight with Takuma first, then a possible jump toward Naoya and one of boxing’s biggest lower-weight showdowns.

Image Credit: MSN