Bantamweight Takuma Inoue is out of his scheduled December 30 fight in Tokyo with Marlon Tapales, after fracturing his hand in training.
The 20-year-old Inoue (8-0, 2 KO) was set to challenge for the WBO title held by Tapales (29-2, 12 KO) at Ariake Colosseum. His older brother, Naoya, will defend his super flyweight title against Kohei Kono in the main event of the card.
Tapales, 24, may still fight on the card, but as of now does not have an opponent. Akira Yaegashi is also scheduled to defend his junior flyweight title on the card.
Inoue is considered a top prospect, though not one with the potential upside of his brother, who has had his own hand issues while dominating competition otherwise. It was to be the first world title opportunity for Takuma, which is something that will now have to wait until 2017. The big hope will be that the hand issue does not become something chronic that can derail his career.