One of boxing’s pound-for-pound stars will look to close out the year with another big victory as he puts his undisputed crown on the line on Christmas Eve in Toyko.
Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue will defend his undisputed super bantamweight crown when he faces off against Australian contender Sam Goodman on December 24 at the Ariake Arena.
It’s a matchup that will see Inoue look to complete a third successive defence of his undisputed title in 2024, and a chance to extend his remarkable knockout streak to 10.
With a perfect professional record of 28-0, with 25 knockouts, Inoue stopped Paul Butler to unify the bantamweight titles in December 2022.
“The Monster” moved on to knock out WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton in July 2023, then repeated the feat against WBA and IBF champion Marlon Tapales to claim undisputed glory in a second weight class.
Inoue then went on to headline an historic first boxing card at the Tokyo Dome since the James “Buster” Douglas stunned Mike Tyson back in February 1990. Inoue delivered another performance to remember as he got up off the canvas in the first round to eventually stop former two-weight world champion Luis Nery in the sixth round.
Most recently, Inoue added another knockout victory to his resume, with a seventh-round stoppage of former IBF super bantamweight world champion TJ Doheny in September 2024.
Now Inoue will look to add another defence of his undisputed title when he faces Goodman, who heads into the bout with a perfect 19-0 record, with eight knockouts.
The Australian positioned himself for a shot at the undisputed title with a run that included decision wins over Doheny, Ra’eese Aleem and Zhong Liu. Then he stopped Mark Schleibs in the fourth round in March, and outpointed the previously undefeated Thachtana Luangphon in July to put himself in line for a December date with Inoue.