Naoya Inoue, ESPN's No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer, will help usher in the 2025 title fight slate with his third defense of the undisputed 122-pound championship early Friday in Tokyo (ESPN+, 4:15 a.m. ET).

The Japanese star is a four-weight world champion and has been undisputed in two divisions, but does the wider boxing world truly understand his talent?

Here's all you need to know ahead of Naoya Inoue's undisputed junior featherweight title defense against late replacement Ye Joon Kim on Friday.

Inoue had been scheduled to defend against Sam Goodman, but he suffered an injury in camp and had to be replaced by Kim. For fans outside of Australia, Kim and Goodman are interchangeable. No difference.

Korean challenger Ye Joon Kim is a huge underdog as he steps in as a late replacement to take on the pound-for-pound phenomenon Naoya Inoue.

Japanese fighter Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world and on Friday, January 24, he will headline the first major card

The odds are firmly stacked (to say the least) against Kim, who has won his last two fights against Rakesh Lohchab and John Basan after losing a decision against Rob Diezel in America in April 2023 - his first defeat for more than a decade.

The new year has a growing number of events set for the first few months. Many of the sport's biggest names already have fights on the 2025 calendar, including several members of the pound-for-pound elite.

Naoya Inoue is set to defend his undisputed world titles again this week, as Ye Joon Kim steps in for the injured Sam Goodman. Inoue, a four-division champion who has been undisputed at two weights, was due to box Goodman in December – in the Japanese superstar’s third defence of his super-bantamweight belts.