Inoue Threatened with Lawsuit Over Opponent Selection

The lawyer for former world champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev from Uzbekistan, Pat English, warns that they may file a lawsuit against WBA super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue. He has already sent a letter to the sanctioning bodies to assert Akhmadaliev’s right to fight the Japanese boxer.

“We oppose these promotional bids and that Mr. Goodman will be the next opponent for Mr. Inoue. Murodjon Akhmadaliev has long been the mandatory challenger for the WBA title, and according to the order, the next should be the mandatory contender for the WBA belt.

We have demanded that the WBA ensure a mandatory defense. We do not want to threaten, but we will take legal action if Mr. Inoue attempts to avoid his WBA mandatory defense.

If Mr. Inoue wishes to vacate his WBA title, we will not oppose him fighting someone other than Akhmadaliev, but we oppose what is happening now: that anyone or any organization infringes upon Mr. Akhmadaliev’s rights,” wrote English.

As of now, Inoue’s next opponent has not been confirmed, but Akhmadaliev’s team has previously highlighted that Naoya does not want this fight. One of the potential opponents for Inoue mentioned is Sam Goodman.