There are few more daunting prospects in boxing than squaring off against the formidable undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue.
Stepping in to face Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) as a late replacement on less than two weeks’ notice? Well, you have to hope Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) is being adequately paid.
Boxing history is littered with tales of substitute opponents flipping the script and producing a huge upset. Inoue’s slated opponent Sam Goodman suffering a recurrence of the eye injury that forced their proposed Christmas Eve clash to be pushed back a month has furnished Kim with such an opportunity.
“This has always been a motivation of mine,” Kim told Boxing Scene. “And, in fact, since Inoue moved up to my weight of 122 pounds I had always had the hope that one day our paths would clash, so to be here now fighting him for all the championships really is a dream come true.”
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Such dreams can quickly turn into nightmares when presented with Inoue’s immaculate, unyielding footwork, precision shot selection and chilling power.
Make no mistake, if Kim manages to pull off the upset, we’re into Tyson-Douglas territory. Not that the ever-diligent Inoue is likely to have indulged in any of Iron Mike’s erstwhile folly. On the contrary, the 31-year-old sensation has welcomed the extra time in the gym granted by Goodman’s setbacks.
“It was a real plus for me to get my body into shape over a longer period of time,” he said, having boxed four times in the past 18 months, dispatching Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapales, Luis Nery and TJ Doheny inside the distance. “I could realise this was the best way to condition myself.”
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Naoya Inoue vs. Ye Joon Kim odds, betting
Per BetMGM Inoue is a fittingly monstrous favourite at -5000, with Kim priced at +1400. You can get the draw at +2500.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ye Joon Kim prediction
As the pre-amble and above odds demonstrate, this is hardly a pick ’em fight.
There are a couple of factors that those hoping for the 32-year-old Kim to shock the world can look towards. He is 7-0 in contests against Japanese fighters and has never been stopped.
Kim is ranked No. 11 by the WBO, a status that paved the way for this shot at sporting immortality. The other three main sanctioning bodies do not have him in their rankings, a fact that underlines his relative status in the sport.
Being a durable opponent who has never lost prior to the final bell is noteworthy, but Kim has never operated in anything like Inoue’s company.
Fulton and Tapales were reigning champions who had two belts apiece ripped from them, Nery was a ferocious puncher in his own right who decked Inoue for the first time in his career and Doheny is an elite-level operator heading straight into another world-title fight at featherweight against Nick Ball.
In short, Kim is a couple of rungs below that quartet in terms of pedigree and they all got taken out. Tapales lasted the longest, drawing out his punishment into round 10. A short-notice change of opponent can catch out most fighters. Naoya Inoue is not most fighters. With the questions over whether his otherworldly power would transfer to 122 lbs emphatically answered, expect an early night after a couple of rounds of reconnaissance.
SN Prediction: Inoue TKO 4 +500
