Another significant, arguably bigger fight for The Ring’s No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter is already being discussed.

Inoue and unified Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO 115-pound champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez are in preliminary talks, Matchroom Boxing CEO Eddie Hearn revealed at a post-fight press conference after Ben Whittaker’s first-round knockout of Brian Suarez on Saturday.

However, he said that fight probably won’t be next for Rodriguez, whom he promotes. Rodriguez, The Ring’s No. 4-ranked fighter pound for pound, is scheduled to face Antonio Vargas on June 13.

“There have been some early preliminary discussions with His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] about Inoue against Bam,” Hearn said. “I do think that fight is inevitable. I don’t think it’s going to be necessarily straight after the Vargas fight, but it could be as quick as in the next two or three fights.

“It’s probably one of the biggest fights in boxing. It’s one that Bam likes the idea of.”

Rodriguez is moving up to bantamweight to face Vargas, the WBA’s champion in recess, for the sanctioning body's full championship at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Vargas (19-1-1, 11 KOs) is The Ring’s No. 5-ranked fighter at 118 pounds.

Seiya Tsutsumi, currently the full WBA bantamweight beltholder, was supposed to defend his title against Vargas on April 11. However, the Japanese fighter had to withdraw, having failed to recover in time due to a facial fracture suffered during his unanimous decision win over Nonito Donaire on Dec. 17.

Vargas was originally elevated from interim titleholder to world champion last year, when Tsutsumi was unable to face him with another facial injury.

Meanwhile, after fighting to a majority draw against Daigo Higa last July 30, Vargas was later relegated to champion in recess after a family tragedy prevented him from defending the title against Tsutsumi late last year.

Rodriguez, a two-division champion, added the WBA 115-pound title to his collection of belts with a dominant 10th-round knockout of Fernando Martinez on Nov. 22.

The dynamic southpaw from San Antonio also hasn’t ruled out moving back down to that weight to become the undisputed champion. That would require him to face the winner of IBF champion Willibaldo Garcia (23-6-2, 13 KOs) vs. Andrew Moloney (28-4, 18 KOs), which takes place on June 6 in Japan.

Of course, scheduling fights far in advance is a risky proposition. Inoue-Nakatani survived only after the latter escaped with a unanimous decision over Sebastian Hernandez in a fight that could have been scored either way.

But if Inoue vs. Rodriguez does come to fruition, the blend of skill and power between the two unquestionably makes it one of the best fights in boxing.