Nayoa Inoue hoping for excitement against replacement Kim

Undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue returns to the ring Friday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, against South Korea’s Ye Joon Kim. The bout will stream live on ESPN+.

Inoue, 31, last fought in September, stopping TJ Doheny in the seventh round. The bout served as his second and final fight of 2024. Originally scheduled to face Sam Goodman on December 24, Inoue had to wait as Goodman suffered a cut. The rescheduled matchup for this Friday was shelved when Goodman withdrew from the bout after the wound reopened. 

Inoue, from Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, has been a titleholder for more than a decade, winning his first championship in April 2014. In 2023 and 2024, he made history by becoming an undisputed champion in the bantamweight division and repeating the feat at junior featherweight. 

“I am hoping for an exciting match,” Inoue told Top Rank’s Camp Life. “This is what I hope rather than predicting.”

Friday’s fight marks Inoue’s eighth straight outing in Japan. Known for his knockout power, Inoue wants to deliver yet another knockout for his fans.

“Of course, if there is an opportunity I will go for the KO,” Inoue said. “To achieve that, my plan requires a lot of training for stamina and concentration. 

“I want to show my technique, yes, and of course I am going for a KO, but there will be fans in attendance who have never seen boxing before.”

Kim, 32, from Seoul, South Korea, is on a two-fight win streak after losing a majority decision to veteran gatekeeper Rob Diezel. The bout was the only time Kim, 21-2-2 (13 KOs), has fought in the United States.

“I feel confident,” Inoue, 28-0 (25 KOs), said. “My stamina has been really good in training.”

“First of all, I couldn’t have imagined that I would be here three years ago, five years ago, or even one year ago,” Inoue said. “I can’t imagine what will happen in the next year or two, so I have just been clearing things one by one as I go.”