If you’re a betting man, you might not feel overly tempted to place a wager on South Korea’s Ye Joon Kim, who will of course challenge unified super-bantamweight king and, for some, reigning pound-for-pound best in the world Naoya Inoue tomorrow in Tokyo, Japan. A late replacement for Sam Goodman, 32 year old Kim believes it was his destiny to fight “The Monster,” and as he told Ring Magazine’s website, Kim also believes he will make the absolute most of the chance he now has.
Kim, who has never been stopped in compiling a 21-2-2(13) pro record, is currently listed as a whopping +1700 underdog according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Inoue is currently listed as a -5000 favourite to win and retain his four 122 pound belts and perfect pro record.
It would, then, be an enormous upset if Kim were to shock Inoue and defeat him; indeed, this one would rank right up there with what Buster Douglas did, coincidently in Tokyo, back in February of 1990.
And Kim, who was already in training for another fight when he got the call to step in and fight Inoue, is adamant he will do it.
“I’m different from all the boxers he fought before me,” Kim said to Top Rank as quoted by Ring. “It’s my time, I’ll crush him. I’ve always trained for Inoue. I am always training right. My training is suited towards fighting Inoue.”
Kim does sound convincing, or at least convinced, in saying what he has said. And it’s certain Inoue will not take kindly to anyone saying they will “crush” him. Inoue, 28-0(25) is the crusher, not the crushee. And fans the world over are fully expecting another KO win from the 31 year old star. Upsets, though, do happen. Could we about to witness one here? No-one ever expects an upset (duh!) that is why they are called upsets!
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being at the top of the shocked and shaken scale, how high would YOU rank a Kim win over Inoue tomorrow? I’m picking Inoue to win, but something tells me Kim might just cause a sensation tomorrow, either by rocking Inoue, by dropping him, or by giving him a heck of a firefight. We’ll soon see.
