Inoue to face Kim after Goodman withdrawal

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue will face South Korea’s Kim Ye-joon this month after Sam Goodman withdrew from their scheduled title fight with an injury, Inoue’s gym said Saturday.

The unbeaten Inoue’s 24 January fight against Goodman in Tokyo had already been postponed from its original Christmas Eve date after the Australian challenger suffered a cut above his left eye in sparring in December.

Goodman’s promoters, No Limit Boxing, said Saturday that the 26-year-old top-ranked International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization (WBO) contender was pulling out of the fight after reopening the wound in training.

“No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Naoya Inoue on 24 January due to a recurrence of his eye injury,” the promoters said in a statement.

“We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”

Inoue’s Ohashi Gym said that the boxer, known as “Monster,” would still fight on 24 January, but would instead face Kim, ranked No. 11 by the WBO.

The 31-year-old Inoue has a 28-0 record with 25 knockouts, while the 32-year-old Kim has 21 wins and two defeats with 13 knockouts and two draws.

“Of course Inoue was surprised,” Ohashi Gym president Hideyuki Ohashi told reporters in Yokohama.

“It’s his first experience of having to face a different fighter after a postponement, but both Inoue and myself are taking this in a positive way.”

Goodman originally hurt his left eye during his final training session before jetting to Japan, the Australian’s promoter and his manager told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

He needed four stitches and was told he could not fight for four weeks, the newspaper said.

Inoue beat Ireland’s TJ Doheny in his most recent defence in Tokyo in September.

He is just the second man to become undisputed world champion at two different weights since the four-belt era began in 2004. American Terence Crawford was the first.