The separate conversations varied but both carried the same goal for Naoya Inoue.

A one-month delay in his next ring appearance only moved the timeline for the four-division and reigning Ring/undisputed junior featherweight champion. Not even Sam Goodman's second consecutive withdrawal will impact what The Ring’s No. 2 pound-for-pound entrant sets to accomplish in the year ahead.

“There really isn’t much of a schedule change in 2025,” Inoue told The Ring, just prior to his latest opponent switch. “The plan is still to fight three times this year. Maybe the dates are a little different but we still have the same goal in place.”

As previously reported by The Ring, Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) is set to next defend his crown against South Korea’s Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs). Their scheduled twelve-round championship clash will headline a Lemino Pay-Per-View/ESPN+ event on Jan. 24 from Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

The date and location were previously set aside for Australia’s Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), forced out of the show after he re-opened a cut that previously postponed his Dec. 24 challenge of Inoue.

It was agreed at that time to preserve the planned IBF mandatory title defense, hopeful that an month would leave Goodman fit to fight. The second straight delay leaves Goodman out of Inoue's way for the foreseeable future, and likely for good.

With an expected win over the unheralded Kim, Inoue is expected to return to the U.S. for the first time in four years. He will likely next face Alan David Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs), The Ring's No. 5 junior featherweight and his WBC mandatory challenger, sometime this spring in Las Vegas.

Another win on that date will leave room for Inoue to fight later this fall, to complete his first three-fight campaign since 2017.

“I train hard enough for all of my opponents to where I expect to win,” Inoue clarified on the difference between looking past a fight, and planning for the future. “So, with the expectation of a win, we expect to return to the United States in late April or [May], and then a third fight in 2025.”