Ye Joon Kim: Who will be Inoue’s surprise challenger on January 24?

IBF, WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue will defend substitute opponent Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) in place of his injured Sam Goodman mandatory on 24 January at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue’s management found 32-year-old South Korean Ye Joon Kim and inserted him as Naoya’s replacement to defend his three belts in 13 days on January 24. Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) withdrew from his fight against Inoue due to a recurrence of an eye injury. Inoue is expected to reschedule against Goodman at a later date in 2025.

Rocky history?

The fans’ only problem, besides never having heard of Kim before, is how he can be allowed to fight for Inoue’s three world titles at super bantamweight when he is not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies. . Other than that, Yoon Kim is just as good a choice as Naoya’s unpopular original choice, Sam Goodman.

Inoue’s team has made a ‘Rocky’- type selection, taking an unranked fighter that few people have heard of and putting him in the spotlight to compete for three world titles. It would be more acceptable if this were a non-world title fight without any of Inoue’s belts on the line. The ‘Monster’ Inoue team has chosen a ham and egg as its replacement. That’s great for Kim and Naoya, but terrible for the fans.

Allowing a non-contender to fight for three world titles is disgusting and completely unfair to the fans and top 15 contenders who have been waiting for their world title shot against the Japanese star.

Boxing fans were not interested in seeing Inoue defend against Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), seeing that as a typical mismatch for the Japanese star. The Australian Goodman is a delicate fighter without power and would have been food for Naoya.

However, Goodman looks like a real talent compared to replacement opponent Ye Joon Kim, who lost two years ago to journeyman Sam Diezel (15-10, 4 KO0 by majority decision in eight rounds on April 15, 2023.

ANDJoon Kim’s last six opponents:

Rakesh Lohchab
Juan Basan
Samuel Diezel
Ruben Montoya Ramirez
ryo kosaka
Last night Phuangkaew

Those records of those fighters are simply horrible, full of losses against unknown fighters. Once again, how is Naoya Inoue allowed to hold her own against Ye Joon Kim instead of being a credible contender?