Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) has suffered a reoccurrence of an eye injury and has pulled out of his January 24th fight against unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) in Tokyo, Japan.
Inoue will stay on the January 24th date in Tokyo and will now fight little-known second-tier 32-year-old Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs). It’s unclear why Naoya’s promoters have chosen Kim as the replacement, but perhaps this plays well in Japan. For the rest of the world, this won’t resonate with fans.
Yoon Kim lost to journeyman Rob Diezel (15-10, 4 KOs) by an eight-round decision in 2023 and Sa Myung Noh at the start of his career in 2012. All of Kim’s 21 wins in his career have come against obscure fighters.
This selection by Inoue’s team will disappoint fans because they want to see Inoue start fighting the best fighters instead of the ones he’s been facing for years. Outside of Japan, Inoue hasn’t caught on with fans because he never tests himself by going up against fighters who could potentially beat him.
Inoue’s Wait Continues
The promoters for Goodman at No Limit Boxing reported the injury and say they give updates on his situation. It was believed that Inoue would defend against Alan David Picasso next. This would be as good a time as any for ‘The Monster’ to get that fight out of the way while Goodman recovers.
Fans on social media are fed up with this fight and want to see the Japanese star move on to bigger and better things, either at 122 or 126.
Inoue has been reluctant to move up to featherweight despite the many top fighters that he could face in that division. These are guys that would test Naoya’s ability, like WBO champion Rafael Espinoza
Out Again
“No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Naoya Inoue on January 24 due to a recurrence of his eye injury.
We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
