Goodman left ‘distraught’ as world title fight against Inoue off after second cut
Australia’s Sam Goodman has been sensationally ruled out of his blockbuster world title with Naoya Inoue – and is set to undergo plastic surgery – after suffering yet another head cut in training on Saturday morning.
Fox Sports Australia can reveal Goodman has been left “distraught”, and his entire training and promotional team shattered, after reopening the cut above his left eye suffered in sparring a few weeks ago.
No Limit promoter Matt Rose confirmed the news and said his fighter would now have to undergo plastic surgery to prevent the issue from occurring again.
“It’s just devastating,” Rose said.
“After everything Sam went through the first time around, and now to have it happen again … I really don’t know what to say.
“There aren’t any words.
“The amount of time everyone has put into this.
“All the sacrifices Sam has made.
“It only happened this morning.
“We’ll now have to try and get him in for plastic surgery in the next 24 hours to have any hope of ensuring this mends.
“For this to open like it has again, he’s obviously got soft skin there that we need to look at.
“It’s just devastating.”
The new has opened significantly worse than the initial one, with Code Sports on Saturday revealing a gruesome photo of the new injury.
Midway through Saturday morning, Goodman’s promoters released the following statement:
“No Limit Boxing regrets to announce that Sam Goodman has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Naoya Inoue on January 24 due to a recurrence of his eye injury.
We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
Asked how Goodman was, Rose said: “Distraught.
“All he’s done for the past four months is prepare like there is no tomorrow.
“And now it’s all been ripped away from him.
“And for the second time.”
Midway through December, Goodman’s Christmas Eve blockbuster against Inoue in Tokyo was postponed, after the Aussie boxer suffered a cut over his left eye in training.
The cut occurred during an open workout session on what had been going to be the final spar of Goodman’s camp, with the fighter due to fly out the following day.
As a result of the first cut, Goodman has refrained from sparring for the past couple of weeks and instead only moved around with training partners in the gym.
Incredibly, Rose said he was doing exactly that Saturday morning when the cut opened again.
Following the initial cut, Goodman took to Instagram to address the incident.
“Hey everyone,” he started.
“Just wanted to let everyone know what happened this morning.
“I was having my last spar before we flew out to Tokyo and, by freak accident, just got cut resulting in four stitches.
“And if I had it my way, I’d like to proceed with the fight.
“But taking on a guy like this, my team, ah, my team were just saying I wouldn’t have the same team in my corner letting me go into a fight like this compromised.
“And I’m absolutely devastated to be doing this.
“But it is what it is.
“I just want to say sorry to everyone who was coming over.
“I know how hard it was to make that decision and come over and support me, especially this time of year.
“Sorry also to everyone in Japan who was also excited for this fight.
“To Inoue and his team, I know they would’ve been preparing hard for this fight and I don’t want my opportunity to go anywhere.
“I want to fight this guy.
“This has been a 14-week camp but this has been the last 15 years of my life, everything I’ve ever done to get into this position and to take this guy on.
“I just want the chance to have a crack against him for all those belts.
“And hopefully we can get it on sooner rather than later once this cut heals up.”
Inoue will now face South Korea’s Kim Ye-joon this month after Goodman‘s wthdrawal.
“We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.” Inoue’s Ohashi Gym said that the boxer, known as “Monster”, would still fight on January 24, but would instead face Kim, ranked No. 11 by the WBO.
The 31-year-old Inoue has a 28-0 record with 25 knockouts, while the 32-year-old Kim has 21 wins and two defeats with 13 knockouts and two draws.
“Of course Inoue was surprised,” Ohashi Gym president Hideyuki Ohashi told reporters in Yokohama.
“It’s his first experience of having to face a different fighter after a postponment, but both Inoue and myself are taking this in a positive way.”
