The IBF world bantamweight champion Emmanuel “Manny” Rodríguez (19-0, 12 KOs) and his team left for Havana, Cuba to continue training for his unification fight against WBA world champion Naoya Inoue (17-0, 15 KOs). This is the semifinal round of the acclaimed World Boxing Super Series.

The date and venue of the event will be announced soon.

“I will be quartered in Cuba for 77 days. It will not be easy to be away from my family for so long, but the sacrifice will be worth it,” said Rodríguez.

“We trust the plan that we have with my new coach William Cruz, and on the track with veteran José Bonet. The results will show in the fight. The chemistry that we developed in these past weeks of light training has been very good. This will be the first time that I’m not the favorite in a fight, and the motivation is incredible. It’s very huge. I like challenges. Our goal and focus is to take the victory and that Puerto Rico continues to shine in boxing,” said an emotional Rodríguez, from the Luis Muñoz Marín Airport in the city of Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Rodríguez’s promoter, Juan Orengo of Fresh Productions Boxing, explained that “this camp will not have room for distractions. It will have a lot of boxing and teamwork. Manny will be in top condition. Also, prospect Jonathan ‘Bum Bum’ López is joining us in Cuba. He is another fighter from our squad, and will fight where the Manny Rodríguez fight takes place. We are very enthusiastic about everything that is happening. Manny was always looking to fight Inoue, and it’s finally happening.”