Ye Joon Kim: Who is Inoue’s surprise challenger on January 24th?

IBF, WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue will defend against stand-in opponent Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) in place of his mandatory injured Sam Goodman on January 24 at Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue’s management found 32-year-old South Korean Ye Joon Kim and inserted him as Naoya’s replacement to defend his three belts in 13 days on January 24. Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) pulled out of his fight against Inoue due to a reoccurring eye injury. Inoue is expected to reschedule against Goodman at a later date in 2025.

Rocky Story?

The only problem for fans, besides having never heard of Kim before, is how he can be allowed to fight for Inoue’s three world super bantamweight titles when he’s not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies. Other than that, Yoon Kim is as good a choice as Naoya’s original unpopular choice, Sam Goodman.

Inoue’s team has made one ‘Rocky’- type selection, picking an unranked fighter few people have ever heard of and putting him in the spotlight to challenge for three world titles. It would be nicer if it was a non-world title fight with none of Inoue’s belts on the line. Team ‘Monster’ Inoue has chosen a ham and egger as its substitute. This is great for Kim and Naoya, but bad for the fans.

Allowing a non-contender to fight for three world titles is distasteful and completely unfair to the fans and the top 15 contenders who have been waiting for their world title shot against the Japanese star.

Boxing fans weren’t interested in seeing Inoue defend against Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), seeing it as a typical mismatch for the Japanese star. Australian Goodman is an exquisite fighter without power and would have been food for Naoya.

However, Goodman looks like a real talent compared to replacement opponent Ye Joon Kim, who lost two years ago to official Sam Diezel (15-10, 4 KOS0 by eight-round majority decision on 15 ‘April 2023).

YJoon Kim’s last six opponents:

Rakesh Lohchab
John Bashan
Sam Diezel
Rubén Montoya Ramírez
Ryo Kosaka
Anocha Phuangkaew

The records of these fighters are simply awful, filled with losses against obscure fighters. Again, how is Naoya Inoue allowed to stand up for Ye Joon Kim instead of a credible contender?