Naoya Inoue 121.8 vs. Ye Joon Kim 121.7 – Weigh-in results for Friday

Unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) weighed in at 121.8 pounds, while his replacement, Challenger Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) came in at 121, £7 for their headliner this Friday 24th January. at Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Somber weighing

The weigh-in had a funereal feel as no one smiled, with the fighters wearing grim expressions on their faces. Inoue had been scheduled to defend against Sam Goodman, but suffered an injury in camp and had to be replaced by Kim.

For fans outside of Australia, Kim and Goodman are interchangeable. no difference Both are light punchers and don’t threaten to beat Inoue, and they’re not popular fighters. It’s good that a replacement opponent can be found so quickly. It’s a shame a better rival could have been unearthed to make it interesting.

who is kim

Not much is known about Kim because he has been fighting lesser opposition throughout his 13-year professional career. He has done nothing to evaluate a title shot, even as a replacement opponent.

It’s strange how Team Inoue has drafted him over someone the fans have heard of who could give Naoya a run for his money. This might not have been what they wanted because it would have been risky for Inoue to fight someone with two weeks of preparation for his style.

Friday’s Inoue-Kim event will be shown on ESPN+ at 4:15am ET/ 1:15am PT. Boxing fans in the U.S. are likely to get up that early to watch the event, but that’s about it.

Inoue, 31, hasn’t had anyone boxing fans have been excited to see since his fight against Stephen Fulton in 2023. That fight made a lot of people in the United States want to see it. Naoya has since defeated these fighters:

– TJ Doheny
– Luis Nery
– Marlon Tapales