A year after he stepped into the ring during Naoya Inoue’s post-fight interview after beating Marlon Taples, making him the undisputed super bantamweight king, undefeated contender Sam Goodman gets his shot at the crown on Christmas Eve in Japan.
In a press release by Top Rank on Wednesday night, the boxing promotion announced that their “Monster” and undisputed super bantamweight champion Inoue will defend against his mandatory challenger Goodman on December 24 live from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo streaming live on ESPN+.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) will be stepping into the ring for the third time in a year, which is something he has not done since 2017. Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) will also return for the third time in 2024, but that is nothing new to him as he fought four times last year. This will be a battle of two active fighters and serve as a nice Christmas gift to fight fans worldwide.
In the press release, Top Rank included what to expect on that night or early morning for those here in the States.
“Inoue-Goodman will headline a special early-morning broadcast streaming live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+. In the co-feature, Yoshiki Takei (10-0, 8 KOs) will defend his WBO bantamweight world title against an opponent to be named.”
With a huge “Japanese celebration” event that Bob Arum mentioned for the Spring in Las Vegas on the horizon, Inoue will have the pressure of being expected to run over Goodman. But this is boxing, and we have all seen the best-laid plans go to waste when an opponent is overlooked. Goodman will try to play spoiler on Christmas Eve, but if he is unsuccessful, we will be one step closer to a mega fight between Inoue and WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani.
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