The cut that initially postponed Sam Goodman’s fight with Naoya Inoue has now caused Goodman to pull out of their rescheduled date.
Goodman was originally supposed to challenge Inoue, the undisputed junior featherweight champion, on December 24 in Tokyo. The fight date was pushed back to January 24 because Goodman suffered a cut over his left eye on his last day of sparring before flying to Japan.
Goodman, 19-0 (8 KOs), is the IBF’s mandatory contender and is also ranked first by the WBO. It remains to be seen how this will affect Goodman’s standing with the sanctioning bodies and what will come next for Inoue, 28-0 (25 KOs), now that this bout is off.
UPDATE: A source involved with the January 24 fight date says the immediate expectation is that Inoue’s team will pursue a replacement opponent and try to keep the junior featherweight champion on the show, rather than sideline him until an anticipated spring date in the United States.
This is a developing story. We will provide more updates as we learn more information.
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