You can’t blame Murodjon Akhmadaliev for not entertaining the idea of waiting for yet another fight before he gets his shot at the king.

That said, The Ring’s No. 2 junior featherweight contender believes a mutual acquaintance between his team and Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) can give everyone what they want in the end.

Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KOs) remains hot on the hunt for Inoue’s Ring and undisputed junior featherweight championship. The Uzbek southpaw was among the millions of worldwide observers as Inoue dismantled late substitute Ye Joon Kim (21-3-2, 13 KOs) inside of four rounds last Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

The fight was the first of a multi-bout sponsorship agreement between Inoue and Riyadh Season, headed by Turki Alalshikh who also now owns The Ring website and magazine. Akhmadaliev is co-promoted by World of Boxing and Matchroom Boxing, both of whom are well entrenched in Riyadh Season events.

“My team has a great relationship with Turki Alalshikh. Yes, I noticed that Inoue had Riyadh Season [branding] on his ring attire for his last fight,” Akhmadaliev told The Ring. “So, it gives me some hope because I know that if ‘His Excellency’ (Alalshikh) wants something, he gets it. He wants the best fights and there is no better fight at 122 than me and Inoue.

“If he wants it, we can get it going. I don’t mind if there is a clear path to it. But we can’t keep being told, “Next fight, next fight” and they keep adding more fights in between.” Otherwise, it’s time to move on and for Inoue to give up that WBA belt.”

Akhmadaliev holds the interim version of the WBA 122-pound title. The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist has been Inoue’s mandatory since Dec. 2013, and their fight was twice ordered by the WBA. On both occasions, concessions were made for Inoue to face another opponent.

The matter ended with the WBA offering ‘MJ’ a consolation prize—the chance to fight for its interim junior featherweight title. Akhmadaliev won the strap in a one-sided third-round knockout of Ricardo Espinoza last Dec. 14 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Inoue has now made three defenses of The Ring and his undisputed championship in the time that Akhmadaliev was assigned as his mandatory. He was ordered by the WBC to face former two-division titlist Luis Nery (35-2, 29 KOs), whom he knocked out in the sixth round last May 6 in Tokyo.

The WBA then ordered Inoue-Akhmadaliev, only to permit the four-division champ to instead face TJ Doheny, The Ring’s No. 7 junior featherweight, in a voluntary defense last September.

A second round of ordered talks then ended with Inoue being granted an exception in order to satisfy his IBF mandatory. Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) was originally scheduled to face Inoue on Dec. 24 and then again on Friday but withdrew both times due to a cut.

Inoue has openly told The Ring that he next plans to return to Las Vegas this spring. Mr. Hideyuki Ohashi, Inoue’s promoter, revealed that his likely opponent for the May date in Vegas will come against Alan David Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs), The Ring’s No. 5 junior featherweight contender.

Mr. Ohashi, a former two-time strawweight titlist during his heyday, also insisted that Akhmadaliev would then come next. Such a fight would be budgeted for a show in Saudi Arabia, Inoue’s first fight in the Middle East.

It’s not the order that Akhmadaliev wanted to hear, but is amenable to a contingency plan—as long as it’s properly memorialized.

“It sounds like a great plan. In reality, though, it needs to be pen-to-paper,” Akhmadaliev insisted. “It has to be negotiated. I don’t want to say right now, “Yes I will take another fight” or “No, he must fight me right now” without discussing with all parties.

“But it has to be negotiated among my team.”