No hurdle will stop undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue from winning. The Japanese ‘Monster’ was supposed to square off against Australia’s undefeated challenger, Sam Goodman on December 24th. However, with mere weeks left in the bout, some bad news hit the planned fight on Friday when Inoue took to social media.

The 31-year-old revealed that his third title defense against 26-year-old Goodman has been postponed to next year. When and why? Well, the duo will now lock horns on January 24th at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. As for why this happened, it was nothing Inoue did that forced the fight to be pushed back.

According to a variety of sources, Goodman suffered a serious cut over his left eye in training for the bout, so he now will have to take some time off for his wound to heal before he can enter the ring. In the meantime, the undisputed bantamweight champion has vowed to turn the tide in his favor in a social media post.

Turning to Instagram earlier today, the 31-year-old shared a bunch of pictures of himself from training, flaunting his fight-ready physique. “I think it’s only a plus for me to have an extra month to prepare,” he wrote in the caption of the post. “We will prepare the best and show you the best match.”

Inoue is coming off a sixth-round knockout win over Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome in May, with over 50,000 fans in attendance. By the time September rolled around, Inoue retained all the belts by defeating TJ Doheny by a seventh-round knockout. However, the 31-year-old will still have to face Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev in a mandatory title defense after his upcoming bout. 

And it appears Akhmadaliev can’t wait for the matchup.

Murodjon Akhmadaliev calls out Naoya Inoue after latest win

Murodjon Akhmadaliev wasted no time after defeating Ricardo Espinoza in Monaco to claim the WBA interim super bantamweight title, turning his attention to undisputed champion Naoya Inoue. The former unified champion accused the Japanese star of avoiding a fight with him, despite his status as a mandatory challenger.

“If he don’t wanna fight me, he just needs to explain,” Akhmadaliev said through a translator. “When I was the champion, I followed the rules. And he should follow the rules as well.”

Akhmadaliev held the WBA (Super) and IBF titles from 2020 to 2023 before losing them shortly before Inoue’s rise in the division. Now armed with the interim title, Akhmadaliev made his intentions clear, declaring in English, “I’m ready, let’s go Inoue!”

That being said, it appears Akhmadaliev will have to wait much longer to get his potential title shot against Naoya Inoue. But the bigger question is, do you think the postponement of the bout will affect how the fight turns out early next year?