Notebook: Goodman cut again, Inoue needs new foe on short notice
Fundora-Spence update; with Lomachenko injured, interim title bout in works; talks for Ennis-Stanionis unification bout; Usyk-Opetaia in future?; Nyika reflects on loss; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Junior featherweight Sam Goodman, the IBF and WBO mandatory challenger, suffered a second cut in a month, forcing him out of his shot at undisputed champion Naoya Inoue on Friday.
Inoue was due to defend all four of the 122-pound world title belts against Goodman on Jan. 24 (ESPN+ in the U.S.) at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The show, however, will go on if a suitable replacement can be found on two weeks’ notice, a source involved in the event told Fight Freaks Unite.
“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,” Goodman’s promoter announced. “We wish Sam a full and speedy recovery and will provide updates on the event in due course.”
The fight was originally scheduled for Dec. 24, at the same arena, but was postponed for a month when Goodman suffered a cut in sparring over his left eye that needed four stitches.
According to Goodman’s team, he has been very cautious to protect the area where he had been cut but during a sparring session he got caught again on the exact spot and the skin split open again, worse than the first time. His team described Goodman, of Australia, as “shattered” to have to withdraw from the fight.
This time, it won’t just be a few stitches needed to close the wound. His team told FFU that Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), 26, will need plastic surgery and will be sidelined for several months.
“The Monster” Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs), 31, the Japanese mega star, four-division champion and two-division undisputed champion, was not about to wait for him after a second injury and will move on with the fight in two weeks if an opponent is secured and then, if he wins, plans to fight in Las Vegas for his fourth career bout in the United States in the spring.
Make sure to check out the 2024 award stories
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Fundora-Spence target date
A fight between WBC/WBO junior middleweight titlist Sebastian Fundora and former three-belt unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. has been on the PBC agenda for nearly a year but hasn’t happened due to injuries to both.
The prospect of the fight began last March when they were in the ring together discussing the possible bout immediately after Fundora’s bloody upset split decision over Tim Tszyu to win the WBO title and vacant WBC belt.
Various dates have bandied about since but with Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs), 27, of Coachella, California, dealing with a nose injury from the Tszyu fight and Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), 34, of DeSoto, Texas, recovering from an eye injury, no deal was ever finalized and one is still not done. But PBC is targeting March 29 for the fight to headline a Prime Video pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Fight Freaks Unite.
It does seem to be an odd date to target because it would mean two PBC on Prime Video PPV events in the same month, something that would be extraordinarily unusual. PBC also has the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach Jr. PPV scheduled for March 1.
If Fundora-Spence does happen, it is likely that only Fundora’s WBC title would be at stake. The WBO has ruled Spence out of challenging for its title because he is coming off a one-sided knockout loss to Terence Crawford in their undisputed welterweight title fight in July 2023; he has been inactive for more than a year; and he is not in the WBO rankings.
Loma gets medical exception
Lightweights Zaur Abdullaev and Raymond Muratalla are negotiating a vacant IBF interim title bout.
RCC Boxing, Abdullaev’s promoter, announced the talks on social media and Top Rank, Muratalla’s promoter, confirmed them to Fight Freaks Unite.
The reason for the interim title being available is the one reason in boxing that is justified — titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko is injured and the IBF announced he has received a medical extension for when he has to make his mandatory defense by.
Three-division champion Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs), 36, of Ukraine, stopped George Kambosos Jr. in the 11th round in May to win the vacant title, but he has not fought since. He has contemplated retirement but also is dealing with a back injury that will keep him sidelined for several months even if he elects to continue his career.
On Nov. 14, Lomachenko requested and was granted the medical extension. Because of that, the IBF approved No. 2 Abdullaev against No. 4 Muratalla for the interim belt. No. 1 is vacant and Keyshawn Davis is No. 3 but will exit because he is fighting for the WBO title on Feb. 14.
The IBF also ruled that Lomachenko must defend the title against the interim titlist by Oct. 8. If Lomachenko does not make the mandatory defense by then he will be stripped and the interim titlist will be elevated to full titleholder.
Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs), 30, of Russia, has won nine fights in a row since his only loss, a fourth-round knockout to Devin Haney in a WBC interim title bout in 2019. Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs), 27, of Fontana, California, fought three times in 2024, including his biggest win, a 10-round decision over former junior lightweight titlist Tevin Farmer in July.
Ennis-Stanionis unification talks
IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis and WBA counterpart Eimantas Stanionis have both said they want a unification fight and they might get it against each other.
Ennis promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and officials from PBC, which works with Stanionis, are talking about the bout for early spring, Hearn told reporters this week while in Australia for the Jai Opetaia-David Nyika fight.
PBC and Hearn had previously made a deal for Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs), 30, of Lithuania, to face Matchroom-promoted mandatory challenger Shakhram Giyasov (16-0, 9 KOs), 31, of Uzbekistan, on a spring PBC card. But, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza told Fight Freaks Unite this week that Giyasov has agreed to step aside to allow Stanionis to face Ennis in the unification fight.
Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs), 27, of Philadelphia, had made a deal to face WBC interim junior middleweight titlist Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch card on Feb. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but then backed out because he wanted the fight to be at welterweight when it was always contemplated as a junior middleweight fight that would have seen Ennis move up one division.
He said he was interested in doing that because it was getting more difficult for him to make 147 pounds, a reason he gave for his lackluster performance in a decision over mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian in their Nov. 9 rematch.
When Ennis backed out, Ortiz was paired with former WBA junior middleweight titlist Israil Madrimov on Feb. 22.
Usyk vs. Opetaia?
After lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia brutally knocked out David Nyika in the fourth round to retain the title on Wednesday in front of a home region around at Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Australia, attention turned to the fight Opetaia wants most.
He called out WBO/WBA titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez for a unification fight, one that Ramirez is also interested in as are the promoters for both fighters — although Ramirez first owes a WBA mandatory defense to former titlist Yuniel Dorticos that has to be addressed either with a fight or a step-aside deal.
However, eventually, Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs), 29, of Australia, plans to move up to heavyweight like virtually all cruiserweight titleholders do and Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn believes there is a good chance he may eventually get the opportunity to challenge lineal/unified champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs), 37, of Ukraine, who became the undisputed cruiserweight champion before vacating to move up to heavyweight, where he also became undisputed champion in May by virtue of his first victory over Tyson Fury.
“Jai is humble enough to not yet talk about Oleksandr Usyk. I’m not. That’s my job,” Hearn said after Opetaia’s KO of Nyika. “For me, Oleksandr Usyk was the greatest cruiserweight of all time. He become undisputed, then he moved to heavyweight to become undisputed. Jai is gonna pick up all the belts in the cruiserweight division and become undisputed and we want to push him into a fight with Oleksandr Usyk as well to try and become undisputed at heavyweight as well.
“You have to search for greatness. He’s good enough to do it. I believe he’s the only person right now in the division, cruiserweight or heavyweight, that can genuinely give Oleksandr Usyk a real, real fight. But to do it we have to pick up every belt in the cruiserweight division first to give him the credibility and potentially the money from His Excellency (Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh) to make Oleksandr Usyk get in the ring. Trust me, in 12 to 18 months, Jai Opetaia against Oleksandr Usyk is all-time classic.”
Nyika reflects on Opetaia
After David Nyika suffered a brutal fourth-round knockout challenging lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia on Wednesday in Broadbeach, Australia, he left the ring after being down for several minutes and receiving medical attention.
He was able to leave the ring under his own power but obviously did not stick around to do an interview in the ring or attend a news conference.
But on Thursday, Nyika, a 2020 Olympic bronze medalist from New Zealand, who lives in Australia, and sparred countless rounds with Opetaia, posted his thoughts on his Instagram page.
“I dared to be great,” Nyika wrote. “Huge congrats to the man Jai Opetaia. It was an absolute privilege to share the ring with such an athlete/champion.
“To my family and friends, whether you that made the trip or watched from home. I’m glad that you could appreciate first hand how much this opportunity meant to me. I poured my heart into that ring but it wasn’t enough.”
He added, “The game doesn’t change. We will rebuild.”
Nyika (10-1, 9 KOs), 29, accepted the bout on three weeks’ notice when Germany’s Huseiyn Cinkara, Opetaia’s mandatory challenger, dropped out due to an ankle injury.
The fight was action packed but after a close first round, Opetaia took over and eventually blasted Nyika out with a series of heavy punches that sent him to the canvas, causing referee David Fields to immediately wave off the fight at 2 minutes, 17 seconds.
iFL TV appearance
I joined my friends at iFL TV to discuss several boxing topics, including the prospect of a Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford showdown, the state of the pound-for-pound lost, thoughts on a Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight, thoughts on whether Oleksandr Usyk is an all-time great, and more. Check out the video here:
Walsh headlines on St. Patrick’s Day
Junior middleweight up-and-comer Callum Walsh, one of the boxing’s top prospects in the 2024 Fight Freaks Unite annual rankings, will fight Dean Sutherland in the 10-round main event of a 360 Promotions card on March 16 (UFC Fight Pass) — St. Patrick’s Day — at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Walsh (12-0, 10 KOs), 23, who is from Ireland and based in Southern California, where he is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, will headline at The Theater for the third time, including last St. Patrick’s Day.
Walsh is coming off his first pro fight in Ireland, where he scored a second-round knockout of Polish veteran Przemyslaw Runowski — who had never previously been stopped — in Dublin, in September. Sutherland (19-1, 7 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Scotland, has won six fights in a row.
“It’s a thrill to be fighting back at Madison Square Garden for the third time and again on St. Patrick’s Day weekend,” Walsh said. “I’ll be ready to put on a show for the biggest Irish celebration in New York City.”
The rest of the card is filled with Irish fighters, including an all-Irish 10-round junior middleweight bout between Emmet Brennan (5-0, 1 KO) and Kevin Cronin (8-2-1,4 KOs) and New York-based Irish southpaw Feargal McCrory (16-1, 8 KOs) against Mexico’s Brandon Benitez (21-3, 9 KOs) in a 10-rounder. McCrory will be in his first fight since suffering an eighth-round knockout challenging Lamont Roach Jr. for his WBA junior lightweight title in June.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the top two fights on the Boxxer card on Saturday in Sheffield, England: Callum Simpson defending the British and Commonwealth super middleweight titles against Steed Woodall in the main event and WBC women’s lightweight titlist Caroline Dubois making her first defense against Jessica Camara in the co-feature. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
The WBO junior welterweight final eliminator between Jack Catterall (30-1,13 KOs) and Arnold Barboza Jr. (31-0, 11 KOs) scheduled for Feb. 15 (DAZN) at Co-op Live in Manchester, England for the right to become the mandatory challenger for lineal/WBO champion Teofimo Lopez has been upgraded to an interim title bout. The reason is because Lopez has not fought since June, has nothing scheduled, and has turned down various fight offers from Top Rank. On Friday, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri posted to social media that “in light of the uncertainty regarding Teofimo Lopez’s career, it is in the best interest of boxing & the 140 lbs division” to make the bout for the interim title. When Lopez returns, he is obligated to fight the winner. “The show must go on,” Olivieri wrote.
Weights from Sheffield, England, for the Boxxer card on Saturday (Peacock in U.S., 2:30 p.m. ET, Sky Sports in U.K.): Callum Simpson 166.9 pounds, Steed Woodall 168 (for Simpson’s British and Commonwealth super middleweight titles); Caroline Dubois 134.2, Jessica Camara 134 (for Dubois’ WBC women’s lightweight title); Scott Forrest 204, Deevorn Miller 204; Sam Hickey 163, Lewis Howells 163; Billy Deniz 174, Mickey Ellison 174; Mauro Silva 162.2, Emmanuel Zion 163; Ellis Price 136.2, Liam Fitzmaurice 136.
Former IBF junior lightweight titlist Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (17-1-1, 14 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Tajikistan, who fights out of Downey, California, will end a 22-month layoff in a 10-round lightweight bout against Justin Pauldo (17-2, 8 KOs), 30, of Houston, on a ProBox TV card Feb. 8 at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio. Rakhimov, who recently signed with promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, won the vacant belt by ninth-round knockout of Zelfa Barrett in November 2022 after injured Joe Cordina was stripped. But Rakhimov lost it via split decision in his first defense in an all-action battle with Cordina in April, 2023. “I am grateful to be returning to the ring for a new promotional company,” said Rakhimov, who has not fought since the loss. “My opponent is a good, tough fighter, which deserves respect, but he is no match for me and my drive to return to the world championship.”
Show and tell
Hall of Famer George Foreman was one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time and one of the biggest punchers in boxing history. He won the title twice. First, he famously ripped it from Joe Frazier, whom he knocked down six times — three in the first round and three in the second — in a second-round knockout in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973. Nearly 20 years later to the day from when he lost the title to Muhammad Ali in the famed “Rumble in the Jungle,” Foreman was down on all three scorecards in a one-sided fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when he rallied to shockingly knock out the favored Michael Moorer with a short right hand down the middle in the 10th round to reclaim the title and become, at age 45, the oldest champion in boxing history (a record broken years later by Bernard Hopkins).
Big George turned 76 on Friday. Happy birthday to the legend! In his honor here are high-grade programs in my collection from both of his heavyweight title victories.
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Photos: Inoue Naoki Fukuda; Spence/Fundora and Stanionis: Esther Lin/PBC; Lomachenko: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Opetaia and Nyika: Tasman Fighters; Dubois-Camara: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer
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Good info, TY.
I could be mistaken but I think i remember when you began FFU there was a question about reigniting the Friday Chats!! I believe you said it wasn’t possible at that time with substack , if I’m correct 🤷♂️ or if I’m wrong are there any thoughts about resurrecting the beloved chats.
Nothing against Dan. But after PBC's delusions of grandeur in 2024 came up very short. I'm putting them in the JC Chavez Junior category. I'll believe it, when I see it in the ring.