Goading boxing superstar Naoya Inoue has proved to be the wrong move.
The unbeaten Japanese fighter was invited to take a shot by overmatched South Korean opponent Ye Joon Kim, and Inoue responded with a devastating right hand in a fourth-round knockout in Tokyo on Friday to remain undisputed world super bantamweight champion.
Kim fell to his knees and couldn’t beat the count – and it must have made for conflicting viewing for Australian Sam Goodman, who would have had the unenviable task of beating Inoue in this fight until he was derailed by a bad cut in training.
Kim only got his chance against the man who’s now taken his record to 29-0 with 26 KOs because of challenger Goodman’s misfortune just before their scheduled fight on Christmas Eve.
Goodman suffered the injury in sparring and had to pull out, and then after the date was rescheduled, had to withdraw again when the cut reopened.
This was Inoue’s third successful defence of his super bantamweight titles and his next fight is set to be in Las Vegas, where he beat Michael Dasmarinas in June 2021. That was his last fight outside Japan.
Inoue is a four-division world champion in light-flyweight, super-flyweight, bantamweight and now super-bantamweight and is in the argument to be considered best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
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