Sam Goodman suffered an eye injury and will have to withdraw from his January 24 fight against unified super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue. The two fighters were scheduled to fight at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan.
good man out
The promoters of Goodman No Limit Boxing, a number one contender in the IBF and WBO rankings, report a “recurrence of his eye injury.” They are not saying when Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) will be healthy enough to reschedule the fight against the undefeated Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs).
If the injury keeps Goodman on the shelf for long, Inoue will have to decide whether to give up fighting him and move up or sit back and wait. It’s not a big fight that fans outside of Australia will be interested in seeing.
Fans would like Inoue to face interim WBA champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KOs) as a replacement because that would be an upgrade in talent. Akhmadaliev and his promoter have long been pushing for a fight against Inoue without success.
This would be the ideal time. At this stage of his career, Inoue is beyond the pressure and does what he wants. He is the Canelo of the 122-pound division.
“No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight 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 you with updates on the event in due course.”
