Japan's undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue's title fight against Sam Goodman this month has been canceled after the Australian challenger reopened a cut above his eye, his promoters said Saturday.
The January 24 fight in Tokyo had already been rescheduled from its original Christmas Eve date after Goodman was injured in sparring in December.
Japanese media said the unbeaten Inoue was now looking for another opponent after Goodman's promoters No Limit Boxing announced their fighter could not compete.
"No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Naoya Inoue on January 24 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."
The 26-year-old 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.
Goodman, the mandatory challenger for Inoue's WBO and IBF titles, needed four stitches and was told he could not fight for four weeks, the newspaper said.
Inoue, who has a 28-0 record with 25 knockouts, beat Ireland's TJ Doheny in his most recent defense in Tokyo in September.
Inoue was due to defend his super-bantamweight titles for the third time since becoming undisputed champion in December last year.
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.
© 2025 AFP
8 Comments
Login to comment
Fighto!
Really disappointing to see the fight cancelled. It beggars belief that Goodmans team organised a heavy sparring session that must have re-opened the cut over his eye - less than two weeks before the biggest fight and payday of his life. That's boxing I guess.
Probably too late now for Monster to get a replacement for the fight? Hopefully one day Goodman, as the mandatory, gets another shot at Inoue when he's healed!
SarcasmOnly
Inoue’s fighting weight is 54 or 55 Kg. I guess there aren’t many men who can weigh that little outside Japan?
timeon
Sarcasm, do names like Manny Pacqiao or Floyd Mayweather, just to name the most famous, ring a bell?
Mr Kipling
Floyd Mayweather never fought at super bantam. Always above. But plenty of others.
The_Beagle
They tanked the fight as their guy wasn't ready. Probably never will be. It's a well-used ploy in the game.
The_Beagle
You mean outside the USA.
The_Beagle
Most non-Western countries have guys banging at 50-70 kg. Your steroid Marines and MMA guys get wasted when they tangle, save for their tech.
The_Beagle
The Thai champion. The English champion. The African champion. Who wins?