Naoya Inoue will stay at super bantamweight to defend his undisputed championship against his IBF mandatory Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) next on December 24th in Tokyo, Japan.
Nakatani on the Horizon
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) wants to stay at 122 to defend against Goodman and potentially face bantamweight Junto Nakatani in April 2025, according to @Pugboxing. Naoya vs. Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) would happen at the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome.
Nakatani holds the WBC 118-lb title and will defend it on the undercard of Inoue vs. Goodman on Christmas Eve, December 24th, in Tokyo. Having Nakatani on the undercard will set the table for a clash between them next April.
That fight would play out big in Japan and among the hardcore boxing fans in the U.S. Neither is well known among casual fans in the States.
Many fans would prefer that Inoue not waste time fighting the weak puncher Goodman and go straight into the fight with Junto Nakatani before moving up to 126 to face the dangerous opposition in that weight class.
Concerns About Featherweight Move
Many believe Naoya will be undone when he moves up to featherweight and begins fighting talented opponents like Bruce Carrington, Rafael Espinoza, Angelo Leo, and Nick Ball.
The way Inoue looked on Tuesday night against the 37-year-old TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs), he’s not going to do well at featherweight fighting the above names. That might be one of the reasons why Inoue is choosing to stay at 122, fighting old guys like Doheny, weak punchers like Goodman, and smaller guys like Nakatani.
Inoue knows his limitations and wants to ensure that he keeps winning as long as possible before he retires. This is smart, but it also says a lot about his not being as good as people had thought.
In Inoue’s fight against Dohney, we saw a fighter who couldn’t throw combinations and could only throw one punch at a time. Inoue’s power isn’t as dangerous at 122, so he’s forced to take shots that he didn’t have to before when he was fighting in the smaller weight classes.
