Sam Goodman is reportedly planning to face Naoya Inoue in December
Despite confronting undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in the ring after “The Monster’s” knockout of Luis Nery, IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman isn’t jumping straight into a title fight. No Limit Boxing announced yesterday that Goodman will meet Chainoi Worawut atop a July 10th show in Wollongong.
The plan is reportedly to face Inoue in December.
Fox Sports AU calls this a “huge” decision for Goodman (18-0, 8 KO) to “roll the dice,” comparing it to Tim Tszyu’s decision to keep facing credible opposition while waiting for Jermell Charlo, but the risk seems overblown on paper. Worawut (25-0-1, 15 KO), real name Thattana Luangphon, has an extremely Thai record; his only wins of note came over countrymen Pungluang Sor Singyu and Kompayak Porpramook, both of whom were years past their sell-by dates.
We’ve seen Thais with inflated records come out of nowhere to wreck shop, of course, but we’ve seen just as many flame out on the world stage.
As for Inoue, Turki Alalshikh is reportedly courting him to compete this September at Wembley. No word as to his opponent; the ideal would be Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who’s the most interesting stylistic challenge for him at 122 and would also presumably satisfy his WBA obligation before Goodman satisfies the IBF and WBO.
That said, there are a handful of UK fighters near the top of the rankings, namely Dennis McCann, Liam Davis, and Shabaz Masoud. Perhaps they’ll go for local flavor instead.
The card also sees former super featherweight title challenger Liam Wilson (13-3, 7 KO) move up to 135 to face Youssef Dib (21-1, 11 KO), younger brother of veteran Billy.
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