YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) -- Japanese undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue's next scheduled opponent, Sam Goodman, sustained another eye injury and has withdrawn from the Jan. 24 boxing world title bout, Inoue's gym confirmed Saturday.

Ohashi Boxing Gym's chairman, Hideyuki Ohashi, told a press conference that Goodman's side had contacted him early Saturday morning to say the Australian's injury would require six months to heal.

In Goodman's place, Ohashi said Inoue would fight South Korean Kim Ye Joon, ranked 11th by the WBO, at Tokyo's Ariake Arena.

"I had expected something like this might happen," Ohashi said of the quick switch to a new opponent. "Inoue had been training over the New Year holidays and I didn't want that effort to go to waste."

Australian media reported Goodman, the top-ranked IBF and WBO contender, reopened a cut above his left eye he suffered in December that had forced the original Dec. 24 bout to be postponed by a month.

"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 said.

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

The 31-year-old Inoue is 28-0 in his career with 25 knockouts, while 32-year-old Kim is 21-2 with 13 KOs and two draws.