Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue and Ye Joon Kim weighed in efficiently right this moment for his or her combat this Friday, January twenty fourth.
(Credit score: Naoka Fakuda)
Weights:
Naoya Inoue 121.8 vs. Ye Joon Kim 121.7
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) can be defending his IBF, WBC, and WBO tremendous bantamweight titles in opposition to Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) from the Ariake Enviornment, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan.
The occasion can be proven for the U.S. followers on ESPN+ early within the morning at 4:15 a.m. ET/ 1:15 a.m
Inoue, 31, had been scheduled to defend in opposition to his obligatory Sam Goodman, however he suffered a lower throughout camp and needed to pull out. It’s a miracle that they discovered somebody so fast. It’s disappointing that it was the little-known Kim somewhat than somebody that boxing followers have heard of.
Inoue’s followers in his native Japan in all probability don’t thoughts that Kim is getting used as a result of these international locations are close by. So, it is sensible that he was chosen as Inoue’s substitute.
The remainder of the world would have prefer to have seen Inoue combat WBA interim tremendous bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev or #1 Alan David Picasso. For some cause, Naoya has by no means appeared wanting to combat Akhmadaliev, and it’s unusual as a result of he’s imagined to be keen to combat anybody. I suppose there are limits to even what Inoue is keen to do.
Inoue is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of 38-year-old TJ Doheny on September third final 12 months. Naoya took lots of criticism for selecting to combat Doheny, provided that he’s crushed three lower-level fighters after shedding 4 out of his six fights. In different phrases, Doheny had padded his report with fodder and was given a title shot after a 2-4 run main into the comfortable opponents.
Some boxing followers consider Inoue is not seeking to take powerful fights at this stage of his profession. He’s simply milking his titles, making straightforward cash, and simply making an attempt to lengthen his keep on the high so long as humanely potential.
