" The Japanese Monster " Inoue would have to settle for a new opponent.
Naoya Inoue vs Sam Goodman off again after Goodman reopens cut
Naoya Inoue is still fighting in two weeks, but it won’t be against Sam Goodman, who re-injured himself in sparring.
Authoritative sources have hinted today that Sam Goodman, whose IBF-mandated title shot against Naoya Inoue got pushed from December 24th to January 24th due to a cut suffered in training, re-opened the cut while sparring and is once again out of the fight.
Goodman (19-0, 8 KO) will reportedly undergo plastic surgery to fix the cut, which is “significantly worse” than the previous one. Mike Coppinger claims he’ll be out six months, which would almost assuredly force the IBF to either name a new contender or allow the WBA (Murodjon Akhmadaliev) or WBC (Alan Picasso) to advance to the front of the queue.
It sucks for Goodman, but you’ll recall that he previously kicked the can down the road by taking a stay-busy fight last July instead of jumping into the title bout.
Per Coppinger, Inoue (28-0, 25 KO) would still fight on the bill against another opponent. As it stands now, the most viable option on paper is WBC and IBF no.6 ranked Toshiki Shinomachi ( 19-1-3, 12kos). Shinomachi is already scheduled on the undercard, hence eases things up a bit.
It's as though Sam Goodman would have made much of an impact, but most boxing fans are excited to see Naoya Inoue in action.
By Samuel Opoku Amoah
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