Ye Joon-Kim Ready To Upset Inoue – ‘He Has Never Faced A Fighter Like Me’

January 21, 2025
4 weeks
Ye Joon-Kim Ready To Upset Inoue - 'He Has has Never Faced A Fighter Like Me'

Naoya Inoue will defend his Undisputed Super Bantamweight Title on January 24 against Ye Joon-Kim, who is ready to shock the world. 

Inoue will face Joon-Kim after his initial opponent, Sam Goodman, pulled out twice. He suffered a cut in sparring, which meant the initial December 24 date was rescheduled for January 24. But the cut was a cause for concern again as Joon-Kim stepped in. Inoue is undefeated with a 28-0 record. 25 of his wins are by way of knockout. He stopped Marlon Tapales to become undisputed at super bantamweight. That win made him undisputed in a second weight class, having done the same at bantamweight. He joined Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk as the two other fighters to have done it in the four-belt era.

Joon-Kim is 21-2-2. 13 of his wins are by way of knockout. Kim enters the fight with two wins in a row. He stopped his previous two opponents, including Rakesh Lohchab, in his last fight. He only has two losses to his name. But this is by far his biggest test. Inoue has plans to fight in the US this year and work with the Saudis.

Joon-Kim Reacts

He signed a deal with the Saudis, which will help broaden his crossover appeal. His major criticism is that he is not known outside of Japan. However, since he continues to sell out in Japan, there has not been a need for him to fight outside of the country. But  Joon-Kim will be looking to spoil the party. He is confident about doing so. 

“I don’t think Inoue has ever faced a fighter like me before. [And] I can imagine what he’s thinking right now but I want to say that he’s completely wrong. I think he will understand when we get in the ring, and we exchange punches for the first time. I’ve been studying him for a long time, and I practice as if I’m going to face him. All my practice and all my fighting patterns are based on fighting Inoue,” Joon-Kim said 

Joon-Kim has plenty of motivation. He grew up as an orphan, losing both parents. But those were not the only odds he battled. Boxing is not a big sport in South Korea, with soccer and baseball having more impact. There were naturally not a lot of countrymen for him to follow. But he looked up to Pacquiao and Mayweather. There were some Koran boxers, such as Myung Woo Yuh, Sung Kil Moon and Jung Koo Chang. But Joon-Kim hopes that a historic win can boost boxing in his country. 

“We lost a lot of support to other sports like soccer, baseball and basketball, but hopefully with a great performance I can bring the interest back,” Joon-Kim stated 

Full Card

Naoya Inoue vs. Sam Goodman, 12 rounds, for Inoue’s WBC/WBO/IBF/WBA super bantamweight titles

Jin Sasaki vs. Shoki Sakai, 12 rounds, welterweights

Kai Watanabe vs. Tsubasa Narai, 10 rounds, super featherweights

Toshiki Shimomachi vs. Misaki Hirano, 10 rounds, super bantamweights

Goki Kobayashi vs. Yuni Takada, 12 rounds, minimumweights

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.


THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING boxingnews.COM

TAGS
COMMENTS

RELATED NEWS