“I’m not gonna sit around waiting for Bam,” Inoue wrote on his X account on Tuesday. “So I’m starting prep for featherweight, too.”

Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs) is the undisputed champion at 122 pounds and The Ring's No. 1 pound-for-pound ranked fighter. "The Monster" last fought in May and beat Japanese countryman and P4P cohort Junto Nakatani by unanimous decision. Inoue declared soon after that he planned to take the rest of the year off, but the timeline of his break doesn't appear to be aligning with Rodriguez's plans.

Rodriguez (24-0, 17 KOs) made his 118-pound debut in June by stopping Antonio Vargas for the WBA title. Immediately after the fight, Rodriguez and career-long coach and manager Robert Garcia made it known that they planned to take another fight at bantamweight before the end of the year against WBO beltholder Christian Medina.

Meanwhile, massive momentum began to build around an Inoue-Rodriguez fight with DAZN greenlighting negotiations, and Netflix being interested in staging the fight as well. Turki Alalshikh suggested a January date in Japan.

"We're not saying that we are not taking the fight. We are ready to fight Inoue, and we are serious about it," Garcia told The Ring. "We have no problem taking the fight. Bam is ready. I've talked to Bam, and he's ready to do it in March. I previously said April or May, but we can be ready for March.

"I don't know why Inoue is publicly saying that he's not going to wait for Bam when not one single person has approached us for negotiating anything — nothing, zero. Eddie Hearn hasn't heard anything either because I talked to Eddie and he told me that he hasn't heard anything."

Hearn, Matchroom Boxing's chairman and Rodriguez's promoter, chimed in on the matter as well on social media Tuesday in response to Inoue.

“Who’s waiting?” Hearn wrote. “You said you are fighting in February/March? We are ready.”

Garcia also added that Hearn is trying to land the Rodriguez-Medina fight on the undercard of the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua card on December 11, or on December 19.

"Bam needs to fight before the end of the year, contractually. Bam has been in camp for the last three weeks. We're waiting on the date for Medina. Bam can take the holidays off and be back in camp to fight Inoue by March," Garcia said.

"If Inoue and his team are really willing to do it, all we need is a phone call and we'll work it out. I think Inoue is just playing it smart. I don't think he's backing out of the fight. All he needs to do is tell his management team and promoter to get a hold of us, and we'll make a deal. That's not a problem. We will make a deal for March."

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan