Naoya Inoue’s predictable pummeling of Yee Joon Kim on Friday wasn’t necessarily Inoue’s fault.

Yes, we’re looking at you, Sam Goodman.

Inoue’s limited culpability notwithstanding, the Japanese superstar was a 50-1 favorite over the South Korean contender for good reason. Seoul’s Kim (21-3-2, 13 KOs), who was knocked out in the fourth round at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, lost an eight-round majority decision three fights before he challenged Inoue for his Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 122-pound championships to Rob Diezel. Seattle’s Diezel was 14-9 when he upset Kim in April 2023.

It was what it was, and not exactly worth early-morning wakeup calls in the United States, because Goodman was cut twice while sparring and removed from this fight. Kim replaced him on less than two weeks’ notice so that the event wasn’t postponed a second time.

Nonetheless, Inoue didn’t accomplish anything Friday that enhanced his standing as one of the three best boxers, pound-for-pound, in the sport. In fact, “The Monster” has started saying things that don’t make much sense, all while lining his pockets with eight-figure compensation packages for fights he is heavily favored to win.

An extremely confident Terence Crawford basically begged to move up two more weight classes for the most dangerous fight of his career because he believes in himself that much. The four-weight world champion is expected to challenge Canelo Alvarez on September 13 for super middleweight supremacy.

Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury twice within a seven-month span to cement himself as a generational great. The Ukrainian southpaw is consequently a two-division undisputed champion, as is Crawford.

Inoue’s record since he knocked out then-undefeated fellow 122-pound champ Stephen Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) in July 2023 includes knockout victories over a diminished Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs), who had already been knocked out by Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs), and two overmatched opponents, TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) and Kim. Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs), the mandatory contender for Inoue’s WBC belt, is up next at some point in the spring in the United States.

Assuming he overpowers Picasso, too, Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) shouldn’t be allowed – yes, allowed – by the sport’s power brokers to get through 2025 without at least fighting Murodjon Akhmadaliev, particularly if “The Monster” isn’t going to take on emerging Japanese rival Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) until 2026. Akhmadaliev should be Inoue’s opponent when the four-division champion travels to Saudi Arabia to appear on a Riyadh Season card in the fall.

Before fiercely loyal fans get caught up in defending Inoue, answer this – why is Inoue willing to make mandatory defenses against Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) and Picasso, but not Akhmadaliev? Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev is the WBA interim super bantamweight champion and its mandatory challenger for one of Inoue’s titles.

Sure, Akhmadaliev surprisingly lost a split decision to the Philippines’ Marlon Tapales, whom Inoue knocked out in the 10th round of their December 2023 bout in Tokyo. But again, Nery had been knocked out by Figueroa before Inoue faced him.

Inoue also told ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger this week that he wants to see Nakatani unify bantamweight titles before he would seriously consider fighting the powerful southpaw sometime next year in what promoter Bob Arum told The Ring would be “the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.”

Did Doheny do anything to warrant making a voluntary defense against him? Kim, however circumstantial their pairing might’ve been?

Inoue undeniably is a great fighter, at the same level as Crawford and Usyk. But let’s be honest, he has been driven by business, not ambition, since he defeated Fulton.

CRUZ CONTROL?: Andy Cruz was buzzed by hard-hitting Mexican Antonio Moran in the third round of his last fight.

The 2021 Olympic gold medalist came back to knock out Moran in the seventh round August 3 on the Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The moment Moran’s left hook caused Cruz to take an awkward step, however, it created reasonable doubt among those that thought the heavily hyped prospect was on the fast track toward a lightweight title shot.

In Omar Salcido, the skillful Cruz (4-0, 2 KOs) will encounter another dangerous Mexican veteran on the Diego Pacheco-Steven Nelson undercard Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Salcido (20-1, 14 KOs) stopped former WBA interim super featherweight champ Chris Colbert (17-3, 6 KOs) in the ninth round of his last fight, which took place October 16 in Plant City, Florida.

“This is a step up in my career as I go on,” Cruz said Thursday during a press conference. You know, I’m advancing. But my full focus is on this Saturday and my opponent. You know, I’m facing a Mexican fighter, a warrior who’s prepared really well for this. And as I said, it’s not just about saying things. It’s about doing [things], and I’ll do what I need to do on Saturday in the ring.”

Cruz-Salcido will be the co-featured fight of DAZN’s stream from The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT).

BOOTS’ STRAPS: After a somewhat wasted 2024 in which he battered overmatched David Avanesyan and unanimously out-pointed Karen Chukhadzhian again, Jaron “Boots” Ennis is doing exactly what he said he’d do after he beat Ukraine’s Chukhadzhian for the second time in 22 months at Wells Fargo Center in Ennis’ hometown of Philadelphia. Ennis is trying to fully unify boxing’s 147-pound championships, even if there are attractive fights for him seven pounds higher at junior middleweight.

The 27-year-old Ennis’ welterweight title unification showdown with Eimantas Stanionis should be the most difficult fight of the IBF champion’s career. Regardless, 2025 is off to a much stronger start for Ennis than he experienced at any point last year. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs, 1 NC) and Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) will also fight for Stanionis’ WBA crown and The Ring belt April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

THE FINAL BELL: Fans dissatisfied with Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) against Chordale Booker (23-1, 11 KOs) on March 22 at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas should understand that there are economic restrictions placed upon Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions by Amazon’s Prime Video that typically didn’t constrain PBC when Showtime and FOX were its exclusive content partners. PBC does receive seven-figure license fees for its infrequent cards streamed strictly to Amazon Prime subscribers, but there is only so much TGB Promotions can do within its budget for non-pay-per-view events. That’s reality, not an excuse. Booker, incidentally, has won eight straight fights since Austin “Ammo” Williams knocked out the Stamford, Connecticut native in the first round of their April 2022 fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. … The Pacheco-Nelson undercard will include the pro debut of Nishant Dev, a 2024 Olympian from India. Dev, a 6-foot-1 southpaw, is set to face Alton Wiggins (1-0-1), of Modesto, California, in a six-rounder. Promoter Eddie Hearn hopes the junior middleweight prospect can become a star in India, where most of that nation’s 1.4 billion inhabitants follow cricket religiously, yet heretofore have largely ignored boxing. … Jose Valenzuela has embraced a difficult fight against Gary Antuanne Russell on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard March 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. If the Mexican southpaw was going to end up doing that, why didn’t he just accept the much higher-profile fight versus Davis that he turned down? Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs), of Renton, Washington, supposedly can still make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. The WBA super lightweight champion obviously would’ve made a lot more money, too, for fighting one of boxing’s biggest attractions than he will earn for making his first 140-pound title defense against the hard-hitting Russell (17-1, 17 KOs), a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Capitol Heights, Maryland.