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NAOYA INOUE may not fight on Christmas Eve after all.
Sam Goodman, the Australian contender who was scheduled to challenge Inoue for the Japanese superstar’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 122-pound titles on December 24 in Tokyo, suffered a cut during a sparring session on Friday that forced him to withdraw from their 12-round fight. title fight that night. Goodman suffered a cut just above his left eyelid during what was scheduled to be his final sparring session before flying from Australia to Japan on Sunday.
Australian journalist Ben Damon first reported the news of Goodman’s cut on social media on Friday night.
Boxing News has confirmed that Goodman’s handlers have pushed for the entire event to be postponed until January 24 to accommodate the number one contender in both the IBF and WBO junior featherweight rankings.
Inoue’s representatives have considered replacing Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) with Japan’s Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs), who is scheduled to face another Japanese boxer, Misaki Hirano (11-1, 4 KOs). , in a 10-round fight on the December 24 card.
Siomachi is ranked No. 5 by the IBF, No. 8 by the WBC and No. 11 by the WBA in the 122-pound division. The WBO lists Siomachi as its seventh contender in the featherweight (126 pounds) division.
Ariake Arena is sold out for the card that was supposed to feature Inoue-Goodman, which was a major factor in Inoue’s management not wanting to postpone the event.
Possibly more problematic, however, is that Shimomachi is 5-foot-10½, while Goodman is 5-foot-6½ and fights from a right-handed stance. Switching strategy to a southpaw, without the benefit of much if any sparring against southpaw boxers, this end of training camp apparently encouraged Inoue’s handlers to simply have him fight Goodman a month later.
However, a one-month postponement could alter Inoue’s plans for 2025.
Inoue intended to return to the ring on April 12 in Las Vegas if he beat Goodman on December 24. His likely opponent for that fight would have been Mexican contender Alan Picasso (30-0-1, 16 KOs), who first had to defeat the Colombian. Yehison Cuello (13-2-1, 11 KOs) on Saturday night in Tijuana to remain the WBC’s number one contender for one of Inoue’s four championships. Should Inoue succeed in back-to-back mandatory defenses against Goodman and Picasso, he wants to fight WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) at the Tokyo Dome in what would be the biggest fight in history. of Japanese boxing. late next summer or early next fall. Nakatani would need to win another fight, perhaps in his 122-pound debut, to also secure his spot in a showdown with Inoue.
