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United Super Bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) weighed in at 121.8 lbs, while his Challenger replacement Ie Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) weighed in at 121.7 pounds for his headliner this Friday, January 24 at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan.
Gloomy weighing
The weigh-in had a funeral-like feel to it, as no one was smiling and the fighters had somber expressions on their faces. Inoue was scheduled to defend against Sam Goodman, but he suffered an injury in camp and had to be replaced by Kim.
For fans outside of Australia, Kim and Goodman are interchangeable. There is no difference. They’re both light punchers and don’t threaten to beat Inoue, and they’re not popular fighters either. It’s good that a replacement opponent was found so quickly. It’s a shame that a better opponent could have been dug up to make it interesting.
Who is Kim?
Not much is known about Kim because he fought smaller opponents throughout his 13-year professional career. He did nothing to rate winning the title, not even as a substitute opponent.
It’s strange how Team Inoue chose him and not someone the fans have heard of, and who could potentially give Naoya a run for his money. That might not be what they would want, as it would be risky for Inoue to fight someone with two weeks of preparation for their style.
Friday’s Inoue-Kim event will air on ESPN+ at 4:15 ET/1:15 PT. Diehard boxing fans in the US will probably get up that early to watch the event, but that’s about it.
Inoue, 31, has no one boxing fans excited about his 2023 bout against Stephen Fulton. That fight had a lot of people in the US eager to see it. Since then, Naoya has defeated these fighters:
– TJ Doheny
– Luis Neri
– Marlon Tapales
