Naoya Inoue will have another month to prepare for his next RING championship defense

The Ring has learned that Inoue (28-0, 25 knockouts) will now return to the ring in late January at Ariake Arena In Tokyo. A working date of Jan. 24 is in place, given venue availability.

The new targeted timeframe is one month from when The Ring/undisputed 122-pound king was due to fight Australia's Sam Goodman. However, the Dec. 24 date was scrapped when Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) suffered a cut during his final sparring session. The Ring's No. 3 junior featherweight was due to leave Australia for Japan on Sunday.

He and Yokohama's Inoue will now get to enjoy the Christmas holiday, even if they now have to train through it rather than recover from a fight.

Efforts to secure a replacement opponent were limited to a few hours. The leading candidate to land the late assignment was Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs).

It wasn't an ideal replacement—Shimomachi is a 5'10" southpaw, while Inoue trained to face Goodman, a 5'6" orthodox boxer. Still, it was means to preserve the date, plus there were not any travel concerns with the Osaka-born Shimomachi who was already due to fight on the undercard.

In the end, it was decided to shut down for the year and reload at the start of 2025.

Inoue will attempt the fourth defense of at least two 122-pound titles, and his third as The Ring and undisputed champion. The four-division champion dethroned then-unbeaten WBC/WBO titlist Stephen Fulton last July 25, then claimed the IBF and WBA belts from Marlon Tapales (39-4, 20 KOs) last Dec. 26.

Both fights took place at Ariake Arena. So, too, did his Dec. 2022 Ring/undisputed bantamweight championship win over Paul Butler and a seventh-round stoppage of The Ring No. 7 contender TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) on Sept. 3 in his most recent start.

Inoue's wins over Fulton and Tapales crowned a new Ring 122-pound champion. The campaign was enough to earn The Ring 2023 Fighter of the Year honors.

He also held The Ring and undisputed championship at bantamweight and alphabet titles at junior flyweight and junior bantamweight.

Goodman will enter his first career title fight.

The 26-year-old from Albion Park, Australia became the IBF mandatory challenger after a June 2022 win over Ra'eese Aleem in their June 2022 title eliminator between unbeaten contenders. in Broadbeach. Goodman has since added four wins as means to keep active.

The original fight date would have provided Inoue with a three-fight year for the first time since 2017, when he still held the WBO junior bantamweight title.