By: Sean Crose
“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.” So the promoters of 25 year old super bantamweight contender Goodman posted on social media Saturday. “We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.” With these words, the public was presented with the fact that Goodman has once again had to step away from a fight with undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
The two men were supposed to meet on Christmas Eve, but an eye injury prevented the 19-0 Goodman for being ready on fight night. The bout with the 28-0 Inoue was then rescheduled for the 24th of this month. Now, however, the fight has been pushed back once more. Suffice to say, Goodman is distraught by this most recent turn of events. “I was having my last spar before we flew out to Tokyo and, by freak accident, just got cut resulting in four stitches,” Goodman posted on social media, adding that he wanted the fight to go on.
“But taking on a guy like this,” he continued, “my team, ah, my team were just saying I wouldn’t have the same team in my corner letting me go into a fight like this compromised.” Understandable, sure, but frustrating nonetheless. “I’m absolutely devastated to be doing this,” Goodman said, “but it is what it is.” Goodman also publicly apologized to team Inoue and their fans. “Sorry also to everyone in Japan who was also excited for this fight,” he said. “To Inoue and his team, I know they would’ve been preparing hard for this fight and I don’t want my opportunity to go anywhere.”
Per Fox Sports Australia: “Inoue will now face South Korea’s Kim Ye-joon.” Ranked 11th in the WBO’s list of contenders, Ye-joon now finds himself with the opportunity of a lifetime. Inoue, however, is one of the top, if not the single top, fighters in the world of boxing today. Beating him will be a very tough goal to accomplish. “It’s his first experience of having to face a different fighter after a postponement,” Fox Sport’s Australia quotes Hideyuki Ohashi, president of Ohashi Gym, as saying, “but both Inoue and myself are taking this in a positive way.”
