Naoya Inoue To Fight Sam Goodman On Christmas Eve
Naoya Inoue will make the third defense of his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles against mandatory challenger Sam Goodman on Christmas Eve, it was announced on Thursday.
Inoue (28-0-0 25 KO) will put his WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF belts on the line when he faces Goodman (19-0-0 8 KO) at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo on December 24.
The Japanese pound-for-pound star is aiming to cap another unstoppable year that has seen him destroy Luis Nery in six rounds in May – after climbing off the canvas for the first time in his career – and outclass TJ Doheny inside seven rounds.
Goodman, meanwhile, has also had an impressive 2024 to date, stopping Mark Schleibs in four rounds in March before an impressive points win over the dangerous Thachtana Luangphon in July, which left the Australian with a broken hand. He is the mandatory challenger with the WBO and the top-ranked contender with the IBF.
Following Inoue’s win over Nery, Goodman joined the champion in the ring where ‘The Monster’ agreed to fight the challenger soon. While that was initially expected to be in September, Inoue instead fought Doheny. Thursday’s announcement, however, means Inoue has stuck to his word and granted Goodman his shot before the end of the year.
Goodman is arguably just one of two challenges that remain for Inoue at super-bantamweight (Murodjon Akhmadaliev being the other), with a step up to featherweight expected by the four-weight world champion next year.
Inoue has fought exclusively in Japan for the last three years, but Top Rank boss Bob Arum has revealed plans for the 31-year-old to make his grand return to the United States in 2025, likely in the spring. A mega-fight with fellow Japanese pound-for-pound star Junto Nakatani would be the ideal scenario.
Inoue will once again be the heavy favorite to win and retain his titles, but Goodman says he will be ready for the challenge.
“I haven’t worked this hard for a world title shot … I’ve worked this hard to go win all the belts,” Goodman told Fox Sports. “That’s what I’m focused on. Have been for some time. We’ve had the contracts signed for a while and I have been putting in the work.”
Victory would make Goodman the fourth current Australian world champion, following the success of IBF cruiserweight title holder Jai Opetaia, IBF super-lightweight champion Liam Paro, and women’s WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicolson.
“I’m not worried about what it means to be underdog, or who does and doesn’t believe in me. It’s none of my concern what others think about the fight,” he added. “I believe I can win this fight and so does my team. That’s why I’m doing this. It’s all about winning this fight, and I know I can do it.”
The undercard was also announced on Thursday, with welterweight contender Jin Sasaki (18-1-1 17 KO) taking on Shoki Sakai (29-14-3 15 KO); a super-featherweight contest between Kai Watanabe (13-1-1 7 KO) and Tsubasa Narai (14-2 10 KO); Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3 12 KO) against Misaki Hirano (11-1-0 4 KO) in a bantamweight bout; and a strawweight fight between Goki Kobayashi (8-1-0 5 KO) and Yuni Takada (15-8-3 6 KO).
