Naoya Inoue vs Sam Goodman Is Now Scheduled For January 24

After the fight was delayed due to Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) receiving a cut on the last day of sparring, his fight with undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) has been rescheduled for January 24 in Japan. Although insiders thought Inoue would keep the December 30 date and find a last-minute replacement, event organizers felt it was better to delay the fight for about a month.

Inoue fighting in January should not delay the rest of his 2025 schedule, barring an upset against Goodman. The fight now free of the surrounding holidays should bring even more attention to the “Monster” event.

NEW DATE ALERT 👹

After an injury to Sam Goodman, @NaoyaInoue_410 will now defend his Undisputed Super Bantamweight crown on Friday, January 24! pic.twitter.com/teM2YdeGJ0

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 17, 2024

Here is the press release from Top Rank that was sent out late Monday evening.

Inoue-Goodman will headline a loaded bill streaming live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+. This special early-morning broadcast will also feature the return of Yoshiki Takei(10-0, 8 KOs), who will defend his WBO bantamweight world title against Thailand’s Yuttapong Tongdee (15-0, 9 KOs).

Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) began his four-belt legacy in December 2022 when he stopped Paul Butler to unify all the bantamweight titles. Then, within a little over a year, the 31-year-old knocked out WBC/WBO champ Stephen Fulton in July 2023 and WBA/IBF king Marlon Tapales that December to achieve undisputed glory in a second weight class. He made history again in May by headlining the first boxing card at the Tokyo Dome since the historic Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas showdown, overcoming a first-round knockdown before icing former two-division world champion Luis Nery in six. In September, he registered a seventh-round TKO over one-time junior featherweight king TJ Doheny.

Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) is a 26-year-old Australian who entered the paid ranks in 2018. He went 4-0 in 2023, earning points victories over Doheny as well as then-unbeaten talents Ra’eese Aleem and Zhong Liu. He authored a fourth-round TKO against Mark Schleibs in March before decisioning previously unbeaten Thachtana Luangphon across 12 in July.                                                                   

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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