Naoya Inoue world title fight rescheduled to January

FILE–Japan’s WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Philippines’ WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales in their four-belt world super bantamweight title unification match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena on December 26, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Naoya Inoue’s Christmas Eve super-bantamweight world title fight against Sam Goodman in Tokyo has been postponed to January 24, his gym announced Saturday after the Australian cut his eye in sparring.

“We were informed today from Goodman’s side that he had sustained an injury,” Inoue’s Ohashi Gym said in a statement.

READ: Naoya Inoue set for Vegas after stopping injured TJ Doheny

“We decided to postpone the fight after discussing with Goodman’s side the status of his recovery,” it said, adding the fight would now take place on January 24.

Goodman hurt his left eye during his final training session before jetting to Japan to face the undisputed champion, 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.

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“He’s still going to be great, but we couldn’t let him fight with the cut in 10 days’ time,” his manager Pete Mitrevski said.

Japan’s Inoue, who has a 28-0 record with 25 knockouts, beat Ireland’s TJ Doheny in his most recent defence in Tokyo in September.

The fight against Goodman, who has a 19-0 record with eight KOs, was set to be his last in his homeland before an expected bout in Las Vegas next year.

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.