Sam Goodman has suffered an eye injury and will have to pull out of his January 24 fight against unified super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue. The two fighters were scheduled to fight at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan.
Goodman Out
Goodman’s No Limit Boxing promoters, #1 IBF and WBO, are reporting a “recurrence of his eye injury”. No word on when Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) will be healthy enough to reschedule the fight against the unbeaten 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 the fight with him and move on or sit back and wait. It’s not a big fight that fans outside of Australia are interested in seeing.
Fans want Inoue to face interim WBA champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KOs) as a replacement because that would be a talent upgrade. Akhmadaliev and his promoter have been unsuccessful for a fight against Inoue for a long time.
This would be the ideal time. At this stage of his career, Inoue is out of pressure and does whatever he wants. He is the Canelo of the 122 lb division.
Withdrawal of Recurrence Forces
“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.
We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
