NAOYA INOUE may not wrestle on Christmas Eve.

Sam Goodman, the Australian contender who was due to challenge Inoue for the Japanese superstar's IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 122kg titles on December 24 in Tokyo, suffered a cut during a sparring session on Friday that forced him to withdraw after 12 rounds. title fight that night. Goodman was cut above his left eyelid in what would be his last sparring session before leaving Australia for Japan on Sunday.

Australian journalist Ben Damon first reported Goodman's cut on social media on Friday night.

Boxing News has confirmed that Goodman's handlers have pushed for the entire event to be pushed back to January 24 to accommodate the No. 1 contender in the IBF and WBO junior featherweight rankings.

Inoue's representatives are considering replacing Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) with Japan's Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs), who is scheduled to fight another Japanese boxer, Misaki Hirano (11-1, 4 KOs). , a 10-round undercard on December 24th.

Simomachi is ranked 5th by the IBF, 8th by the WBC and 11th by the WBA at 122kg. The WBO lists Simomachi as the No. 7 contender at featherweight (126 pounds).

Ariake Arena is sold out for the Inoue-Goodman card, which was a significant factor in Inoue's managers not wanting to postpone the event.

Perhaps more problematic, however, is that Shimomachi is a 5-foot-10½ southpaw, while Goodman is 5-foot-6½ and fights from a right-handed stance. Changing the southpaw's strategies without the benefit of many fights against left-handed boxers, this delay in training apparently encouraged Inoue's handlers to fight Goodman a month later.

However, the one-month delay could disrupt Inoue's 2025 plans.

Inoue planned to return to the ring on April 12 in Las Vegas if he defeated Goodman on December 24. His sure opponent for that fight would be fellow Mexican Alan Picasso (30-0-1, 16 KOs), who had to defeat the Colombian team first. Yehison Cuello (13-2-1, 11 KOs) on Saturday night in Tijuana to remain the WBC's No. 1 challenger for Inoue. four championships If Inoue is successful in his scheduled defenses against Goodman and Picasso, he is looking to fight WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) at the Tokyo Dome in what would be the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history. next summer or early fall. Nakatani would need to win another fight, perhaps in his debut at 122 pounds, to secure his spot with Inoue as well.