Sam Goodman has suffered an eye injury and will have to pull out of her January 24 fight against unified super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue. Both fighters were scheduled to fight at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku in Tokyo, Japan.
Goodman Out
IBF and WBO No. 1 No. 1 Goodman’s promoters are reporting a “recurrence of his eye injury.” They are not saying when Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) will be healthy enough to reschedule the fight against the undefeated Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs).
If the injury keeps Goodman on the shelf for a long time, Inoue will have to decide whether to give up on fighting him and stand up or sit and wait. It’s not a big fight that fans outside of Australia are interested in seeing.
Fans would like Inoue to face interim WBA champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KOs) as a replacement because that would be an upgrade in talent. Akhmadaliev and his promoter have been pushing for a fight against Inoue for a long time without success.
This would be the ideal time. At this stage in his career, Inoue is beyond pressure and does what he wants. He is the Canelo of the 122-pound division.
“No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to pull out of his scheduled bout against Naoya Inoue on January 24 due to a recurrence of his eye injury.
We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
