Undisputed junior featherweight champion Nayoa Inoue’s upcoming return to the ring has been snake-bitten.

Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) was originally supposed to face Sam Goodman on Dec. 24, but the Australian suffered a cut in sparring, postponing the fight to Jan. 24.

But on Jan. 10, Goodman suffered another cut and was forced to withdraw from the fight. In stepped Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs), and the South Korean appears that he’ll make it to the finish line to face Inoue on Friday at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Japan

Inoue, The Ring’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, will look to kick the year off to a strong start after a 2024 campaign that featured stoppage wins against Luis Nery and TJ Doheny.

“I’m hoping for an exciting match,” Inoue said on “Camp Life”, a digital series produced by co-promoter Top Rank. “This is what I hope rather than predicting … Of course if there is an opportunity, I will go for the KO. To achieve that, my plan requires a lot of training for stamina and concentration … I want to show my technique, yes, and of course, I am going for a KO, but there will be fans in attendance who have never seen boxing before. I feel confident. My stamina has been really good in training.”

Having already cleaned out the division, Inoue’s days at 122 pounds appear to be numbered, and a 126-pound run and return to fight in the United States appears imminent.

The four-division champion Inoue is also a former undisputed bantamweight king and was The Ring’s 2023 Fighter of the Year. He’s also one of the sport’s many stars who’s actively negotiating a significant fight with Turki Alalshikh, owner of The Ring and head of Riyadh Season.

“First of all, I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be here three years ago, five years ago, or even one year ago,” said Inoue. “I can’t imagine what will happen in the next year or two, so I have just been clearing things one by one as I go.”