Don’t mess with Naoya Inoue’s family if you’re not prepared to face the music.
This is a lesson Emmanuel Rodriguez’s trainer will have wished he knew before his fighter faced the boxer known as ‘The Monster’ in 2019.
Inoue met Rodriguez in the semi-final of the bantamweight division World Boxing Super Series.
The build-up to the fight turned sour when Rodriguez’s trainer, Williams Cruz, squared up to the father of Inoue and pushed him.
At the time, ‘The Monster’ was on a 13-fight knockout streak and that push gave Inoue all the motivation he needed to punish Rodriguez in the ring and make him number 14.
On fight night, at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Inoue set about his business with ruthlessness and precision.
Rodriguez made it through the first round relatively unscathed, but by round two, Inoue had decided enough was enough.
Just 30 seconds into the round Inoue landed a crushing left hand that dropped Rodriguez and left him stunned.
The Puerto Rican made it back to his feet, but he was dropped again almost immediately with a body shot and he shook his head at his corner while on his knees as if in hope that they would throw the towel in and save him from this onslaught.
Rodriguez, however, beat the count once again, but this time Inoue landed the finishing blow to avenge his father and it was waved off by the referee.
Winning this fight meant Inoue progressed to the final of the World Boxing Super Series where he engaged in The Ring Magazine’s 2019 ‘Fight of the Year’ with Nonito Donaire, emerging victorious by unanimous decision.
‘The Monster’ and ‘The Filipino Flash’ will clash once again in a rematch on June 7th at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
