Naoya Inoue vs Sam Goodman undisputed super-bantamweight clash postponed to January 24

A Monster 2025: Naoya Inoue vs Sam Goodman postponed to January 24th

The original December 24 date was postponed after Goodman suffered a cut above his left eye in sparring

Naoya Inoue will defend his undisputed super-bantamweight crown against unbeaten Australian contender Sam Goodman on Friday, January 24, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The two were initially scheduled to fight on Dec. 24, but Goodman suffered a cut above his left eye in sparring shortly before he was scheduled to depart for Tokyo.

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.