NAOYA INOUE might 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 December 24 in Tokyo, suffered a cut during a sparring session Friday that forced him to withdraw from their 12-round title fight that night. Goodman was cut just above his left eyelid during what was slated to be his last sparring session before he flew from Australia to Japan on Sunday.
Australian broadcast journalist Ben Damon first reported the news of Goodman’s cut on social media Friday night.
Boxing News has confirmed that Goodman’s handlers have pushed for the entire event to be postponed to January 24 to accommodate the No. 1 contender in the junior featherweight rankings of both the IBF and WBO.
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 square off against another Japanese boxer, Misaki Hirano (11-1, 4 KOs), in a 10-rounder on the undercard December 24.
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 contender in the featherweight division (126 pounds).
Ariake Arena is sold out for the card that was supposed to feature Inoue-Goodman, which was a significant factor in Inoue’s handlers not wanting to postpone the event.
Possibly more problematic, however, is that Shimomachi is a 5-foot-10½ southpaw, whereas Goodman is 5-foot-6½ and fights from a right-handed stance. Switching strategies for a southpaw, without the benefit of much, if any, sparring against left-handed boxers, this late in training camp apparently encouraged Inoue’s handlers to simply have him fight Goodman a month later.
A one-month postponement might disrupt Inoue’s plans for 2025, though.
Inoue intended to return to the ring April 12 in Las Vegas if he overcame Goodman on December 24. His probable opponent for that bout would’ve been Mexican contender Alan Picasso (30-0-1, 16 KOs), who must first defeat Colombia’s Yehison Cuello (13-2-1, 11 KOs) on Saturday night in Tijuana to remain the WBC’s No. 1 challenger for one of Inoue’s four championships. If Inoue were to succeed in back-to-back mandated defenses against Goodman and Picasso, he wants to battle WBC bantamweight champ Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) at Tokyo Dome in what would be the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history either late next summer or early next fall. Nakatani would need to win another bout, perhaps in his 122-pound debut, to secure his spot in a showdown with Inoue as well.
