Ed Odeven 
Naoya Inoue trains on January 8 in Yokohama. (©Courtesy of OHASHI BOXING GYM/via SANKEI)
Read the full story on SportsLook - [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Naoya Inoue to Fight Injury Replacement Ye Joon Kim on January 24
For the second time in as many months, Sam Goodman was injured during a sparring session while preparing to fight undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
After the first incident on December 14, 2024, in Sydney, the Inoue-Goodman fight, originally scheduled for Christmas Eve, was postponed until January 24 at Tokyo's Ariake Arena.
But Goodman, 26, is now out of the picture. He pulled out of the fight on Saturday, January 11 after sustaining a second injury above his left eye.
South Korean Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 knockouts) was named as Goodman's replacement on Saturday. The 32-year-old is the WBO's 11th-ranked super bantamweight.
Goodman is ranked No 1 by both the WBO and the IBF. In his final training session in Sydney in mid-December before a planned flight to Japan, he sustained a cut that required four stitches.
On Saturday, Goodman absorbed a punch that reopened the cut above his left eye, a more severe cut than the initial one. The Australian will undergo plastic surgery to repair the damage, said his promoter Matt Rose of No Limit Boxing.
Rose summed up the disappointment of Goodman's withdrawal from the title bout by saying, "It's just devastating," Fox Sports reported. "After everything Sam went through the first time around, and now to have it happen again … I really don't know what to say."
Naoya Inoue Now Prepares to Fight Korean Challenger
Now, with less than two weeks until his rescheduled title bout, Inoue is forced to make preparations for a new opponent.
Regardless of who the opponent is, Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) is focused on the task at hand.
"To be honest, I was surprised, but I am grateful to [Ohashi Promotions] chairman [Hideyuki] Ohashi for providing me with an opponent even in this situation," Inoue said in a written statement, ESPN.com reported. "With less than two weeks until the match, we've managed to switch gears."
It will be Inoue's first fight since he earned a seventh-round technical knockout of TJ Doheny on September 3, 2024.
Ohashi, who doubles as chairman of the Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama, said he wasn't stunned that Goodman withdrew from the title match.
"I had expected something like this might happen," Ohashi was quoted as saying by Kyodo News, referring to a last-minute fight replacement. "Inoue had been training over the New Year holidays and I didn't want that effort to go to waste."
If Naoya Inoue conquers Kim, Mexico's Alan Picasso, the WBC's No 1-ranked challenger (31-0-1, 17 KOs), is a likely next opponent for him in April in Las Vegas.
Continue reading the full story, which includes news items on track and field, basketball and more, on SportsLook.
RELATED:
- [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Naoya Inoue Title Fight Postponed Until January 24
- Naoya Inoue to Fight Sam Goodman on Christmas Eve
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
