The planned fight between Naoya Inoue and Sam Goodman has been moved from December 24 to January 24 after the Australian challenger suffered an injury during training. The two are still scheduled to headline in the same venue; Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

According to Australian outlet ABC News, super bantamweight (122 lbs) contender Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KO’s) suffered a cut on Saturday morning [December 14] during sparring which reportedly required at least four stitches and forced his upcoming match against Japanese undisputed champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KO’s) to be postponed.

Inoue himself would confirm the new date of the contest after the injury his opponent sustained:

“The title defense was scheduled for December 24th, just 10 days away, but had to be postponed due to an injury Goodman sustained during sparring,” Inoue posted on social media on Saturday. “I’m sorry to everyone who was looking forward to it. We hope you will come again on the new dates!!! New date: Friday, January 24th at Ariake Arena. Let’s fight at our best.“

The match between Naoya Inoue and Sam Goodman was ordered by the IBF in September, days after Inoue defeated Irish challenger TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KO’s) on September 9. Prior to the IBF’s mandate, the WBA had been expected to order a bout between Inoue and WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KO’s) and had actually given Inoue an exemption to face the lower-ranked Doheny.

Goodman, 26, is currently undefeated and will be making several debuts, prominently fighting for all four of the 122-pound division’s world titles while he is further set to fight outside of his home country of Australia for the first time in his professional career.