Sam Goodman superfight against Japan’s Naoya Inoue called off again due to a recurrence of a cut eye that won’t heal

A cut eye has reopened causing Sam Goodman to postpone his superfight against Japan’s Naoya Inoue for a second time. Graphic Warning: Click here to see the photo.

Sam Goodman v Chainoi Worawut at the No Limit Boxing fight night at WIN Entertainment Centre on July 10, 2024 Pictures: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous

This is the gruesome photo of Sam Goodman’s eye injury that has ended his multi-million dollar superfight against Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue and put his boxing career in jeopardy.

Goodman suffered a cut eye in a sparring session four weeks ago which led to a postponement of his blockbuster Christmas Eve fight in Tokyo as he required four stitches just above his eyelid to heal.

Sam Goodman's gruesome eye injury sustained in training for his world title fight. Photo: Supplied

Inoue agreed to postpone the initial fight until January 24, giving Goodman time to recover and the Japanese star one last fight at super bantamweight before likely changing divisions to cement his status as the pound for pound king of world boxing.

Goodman continued to train through the recovery period, believing his four-month campaign would lead to the holy grail world title in one of Australia’s great underdog boxing stories.

But those dreams officially evaporated on Saturday when the wound reopened and worsened in a session on the Central Coast and the world title fight was subsequently cancelled.

Goodman now has an uncertain future and will be out of the ring for a minimum six weeks as his minders search for a top plastic surgeon to repair potentially a career-threatening injury.

“Sam’s devastated,” said his manager Peter Mitrevski Jr.

“It was always a risk to spar again before we left for Japan but we had to do it because he is fighting a machine.

“We will now regroup and look for the best surgeon in the country to get Sam fixed and back into the ring.”

Goodman’s promoters No Limit confirmed the fight was officially off.

“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,” No Limit said in a statement.

“We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”

On Friday Goodman had posted on Instagram a series of photos from his training captioned: “2 WEEKS TILL UNDISPUTED.”

“Two weeks to go until the world has a new undisputed champion,” he wrote.

“Final touches being done in camp and oyu best believe we’re ready to shock the world! #ANDTHENEW”

Following the initial cut, Goodman took to Instagram to address the incident where he claimed he wanted to fight on the original date but his team would not allow him.

“I was having my last spar before we flew out to Tokyo and, by freak accident, just got cut resulting in four stitches,” he said.

“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.”

Now, Goodman will most likely never get the chance to face Inoue.

Originally published as Sam Goodman superfight against Japan’s Naoya Inoue called off again due to a recurrence of a cut eye that won’t heal