NAOIA INOUE may not be fighting on Christmas Eve after all.
Sam Goodman, the Australian contender who was due to fight Inoue for the Japanese superstar’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 122lb titles on December 24 in Tokyo, suffered a cut during a sparring session on Friday which forced him to withdraw from of their 12 cars. title fight that night. Goodman was cut just above his left eyelid during what was supposed to be his last sparring session before flying out of Australia to Japan on Sunday.
Australian journalist Ben Damon first broke the news of Goodman’s cut on social media on Friday night.
Boxing News has confirmed that Goodman’s trainers have insisted that the entire event be pushed back to January 24 to accommodate the first-ever contender in both the IBF and WBO junior featherweight division.
Inoue’s representatives are considering replacing Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) with Japan’s Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs), who is scheduled to fight another Japanese boxer, Misaki Hirano (11-1, 4 KOs). , in a 10-round bout on the Dec. 24 undercard.
Simomachi 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 Simomachi as its No. 7 featherweight contender (126 pounds).
Ariake Arena was sold out for the Inoue-Goodman card, which was a significant factor in Inoue’s managers not wanting to postpone the event.
Perhaps more problematic, however, is that Shimomachi is a 5-foot-10½ southpaw, while Goodman is 5-foot-6½ and fights from a right-handed stance. A change of strategy for the southpaw, without the benefit of much, if any, sparring against left-handed boxers this late in training camp apparently encouraged Inoue’s trainers to simply have him fight Goodman a month later.
However, a one-month delay could derail Inoue’s 2025 plans.
Inoue was set to return to the ring on April 12 in Las Vegas if he defeated Goodman on December 24. His likely opponent in that bout would be Mexican contender Alan Picasso (30-0-1, 16 KOs), who must first defeat the Colombian. Jehyson Cuelho (13-2-1, 11 KOs) remains the WBC’s No. 1 challenger for one of Inoue’s four championships Saturday night in Tijuana. If Inoue succeeds in back-to-back 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 Japanese boxing history. late next summer or early next fall. Nakatani would need to win one more match, perhaps in his 122-pound debut, to also secure his spot in the showdown with Inoue.