Sam Goodman is out of his undisputed super bantamweight title bout with Naoya Inoue after suffering another cut to his eye.
The fight, originally scheduled for Christmas Eve, had already been delayed once when the challenger was cut in his final sparring session before he was due to fly out to Tokyo.
Having successfully managed to have the fight rescheduled for January 24, organisers have announced that the 26-year-old Australian has again been forced to pull out after suffering a recurrence of the problem.
“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,” a statement from his promoter read.
“We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
Having already been through one delay, it remains to be seen what course Inoue and his team will take now, and whether Goodman’s shot at all the belts at 122-pounds has gone begging.
A Fox Sports report reveals Goodman will now undergo plastic surgery to prevent the injury from happening again.
Murodjon Akhmadaliev holds the interim WBA title at the weight and has been calling for a bout with “The Monster”, although the Uzbekistani only fought last month.
Many fans are hoping to see a Japanese super-fight between Inoue and three-division champion Junto Nakatani, however the latter is booked to defend his WBC bantamweight title on February 24.
