Japanese undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue has an official date set for a fight with Australian contender Sam Goodman: December 24. The two 122-pounders will be headlining at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The main event will therefore see Inoue defend all his super bantamweight titles against IBF mandatory challenger Goodman. The event will be promoted by Japanese-based promotion Ohashi Promotions, while Top Rank will play its part in promoting the fight on their end in North America.

The upcoming super bantamweight (122 lbs) title bout between Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KO’s) and Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KO’s) is a mandatory bout that was enforced on the two a month ago. Prior to the announcement of this fight, the two had already been rumored to face each other on December 24.

The card will be complemented by mostly other well-known Japanese fighters, which notably includes WBO bantamweight (118 lbs) champion Yoshiki Takei (10-0, 8 KO’s) defend his title against a yet-to-be-named opponent. Their fight will be featured as the co-main event.

At minimumweight (105 lbs), Japanese contenders Goki Kobayashi (8-1, 5 KO’s) and Yuni Takada (15-8-3, 6 KO’s) will be fighting on the undercard to prove themselves worthy of being considered title contenders.

At welterweight, top-rated Japanese contender Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KO’s) will be engaged in a stay-busy fight¹ against fellow countryman Shoki Sakai (29-14-3, 15 KO’s).

The confirmation of the upcoming Inoue-Goodman fight does draw questions as to how the WBA will approach the fact that Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KO’s), the WBA 122 lbs mandatory challenger, was denied an opportunity to face Inoue due to their own neglect.

Notably, Akhmadaliev had stepped aside² prior to the announcement of this fight to allow Naoya Inoue to face Irish former world champion TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KO’s) in a voluntary title defense. Preceding that fight had been an order by the WBA for Inoue and Akhmadaliev to face each other.

Following Inoue’s win over Doheny last month, the WBA had neglected to send an expected mandate for Inoue and Akhmadaliev to resume negotiations after the former received an exemption to face Doheny. As a result, the IBF came out with their own mandate for Naoya Inoue and Sam Goodman to face each other in a mandatory bout, which led to the scheduling of the upcoming December 24 bout.

1. A low-risk bout for a boxer, often against a lesser opponent, to maintain activity and sharpness between more significant or high-stakes fights. ↩︎
2. An agreement where a fighter [often a mandatory challenger] accepts compensation to temporarily forgo their sanctioning body-mandated bout, allowing another match to occur―often between the champion they were supposed to fight and another ranked contender. The sidelined boxer typically retains a future title shot or opportunity. ↩︎