September... unless Sam Goodman fights this summer in a tuneup, in which case December. Inoue will defend the IBF and WBA super bantamweight titles each for the second time, and the WBO and WBC titles for a third each. Goodman is ranked WBC #7 and is the IBF and WBO mandatory.
Inoue turns Goodman into Deadman. You need either serious power or great athleticism to beat Inoue, and Sammy boy doesn't have neither of those attributes.
Inoue's last fight, against Luis Nery: This content is protected Goodman's last fight, against Mark Schlebs: This content is protected The poor little S.O.B. doesn't even close his fists all the way balled up tight when punching or guarding. He's going to get absolutely chew-toyed.
I've seen a few people, including @CST80 and @Drew101 , vouch that Malik Zinad isn't too shabby. I've never heard of either him or Goodman until their names were linked with Bivol and Inoue respectively. Then again, I don't watch much boxing anymore...but even so, that still means they can't have really done anything noteworthy until within the last year or two because my thumb used to be pretty well on the pulse.
Zinad much better in terms of skills and eye test, Goodman much better in terms of resume. Zinad might win 2 or 3 rounds and goes the distance, Goodman gets ethered in 4.
Sammy has really grown on me but Inoue gives him an atomic wedgie on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan library.
Another Paul Butler type of opponent. For a top p4p guy, Inoue sure does fight a lot of fighters that even the most hardcore of this forum have barely heard of.
Goodman will bring the fight and go out on his shield unlike Butler. Nothing to criticize Inoue over Goodman is a tougher mandatory then a lot of other champions face.
