Unified super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) Weighed in at 121.8 lbs, while his substitute Challenger Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) came in at 121.7 pounds for their headliner this Friday, January 24th at the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku, in Tokyo, Japan.
The weigh-in had a funeral-like feel to it, as no one smiled, with the fighters with gloomy expressions on their faces. Inoue had been scheduled to defend against Sam Goodman, but he suffered an injury in camp and had to be replaced by Kim.
Inoue vs. Joon Kim fight date, start time
You can catch the action from Tokyo on Friday morning from 7:30am in the UK and 4:15am on the East Coast, with the Inoue vs. Kim ringwalks set for 11am GMT and 6am ET .
- Time: 7:30am GMT / 2:30am ET
- Naoya Inoue vs. Ye Joon Kim main event ringwalks (approx): 11am GMT / 6am ET
For fans outside of Australia, Kim and Goodman are interchangeable. No difference. Both are light punchers and no threat to beating Inoue, and they are not popular fighters. It’s good that a replacement opponent could be found so quickly. It’s too bad a better opponent could have been dug up to make it interesting.
“They look tremendous. There’s not an ounce of fat on either of them. They’re both very muscular, and you can’t ask for more,” said promoter Bob Arum to Fighthype about Inoue and Kim. “Both guys are in incredible shape and they made the weight without any problems.”
Who is Kim?
There’s not much known about Kim because he’s been fighting lesser opposition his entire 13-year professional career. He’s not done anything to rate getting a title shot, even as a replacement opponent.
It’s strange how Team Inoue selected him rather than someone that that fans have heard of, and who could potentially give Naoya a run for his money. That might not be what they would have wanted because it would have been risky for Inoue to fight someone with two weeks of preparation for their style.
Friday’s Inoue-Kim event will be shown on ESPN+ at 4:15 a.m. ET/ 1:15 a.m. PT. Diehard boxing fans in the U.S. will likely get up that early to watch the event., but that’s about it.
Inoue, 31, hasn’t anyone that boxing fans have been excited about seeing since his match against Stephen Fulton in 2023. That fight got a lot of people in the U.S eager to see it. Since then, Naoya has beaten these fighters:
– TJ Doheny
– Luis Nery
– Marlon Tapales
Inoue vs. Joon Kim fight card
- Naoya Inoue vs. Ye Joon Kim; For Inoue’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles
- Goki Kobayashi vs. Yuni Takada; Minimumweight
- Jin Sasaki vs. Shoki Sakai; Welterweight
- Tsubasa Narai vs. Kai Watanabe; Lightweight
- Toshiki Shimomachi vs. Misaki Hirano; Super bantamweight
