Sam Goodman went to Japan and took the fight to Ryosuke Nishida. The Australian pressed inside for 12 bruising rounds Sunday night at Toyota Arena Tokyo, winning a unanimous decision and the vacant IBF interim super bantamweight title.
The official scores were 116-109, 115-110 and 114-111. Goodman improved to 23-1 with eight knockouts, while Nishida fell to 11-2.
Goodman gave the taller southpaw little room to settle behind his reach. He stepped forward from the opening bell, threw a straight right and left hook to get close, then worked Nishida’s body and brought uppercuts through the middle. Nishida landed hard left hands, including a notable shot in the fourth, but Goodman kept making him fight at a pace Nishida could not match.
It was a difficult fight to control. Goodman was cut on the forehead in the third round, while Nishida also bled and developed swelling around his right eye. Their exchanges grew increasingly physical, with both men spending long stretches shoulder to shoulder.
Referee Deon Dwarte deducted a point from each fighter in a fierce eighth round: Goodman for leading with his head and Nishida for repeated fouls, including a low blow. Nishida lost another point for low blows in the 10th and received a further warning in the 11th.
Those deductions increased Goodman’s margin on the cards, but they do not explain away his win. Nishida tried to create space and rally late; Goodman continued to close the distance and throw. His output made the difference through most of the contest.
The victory puts Goodman back in the title picture after cuts forced him out of two planned fights with undisputed champion Naoya Inoue. He earned that position on Inoue’s home turf, on the Takuma Inoue–Tenshin Nasukawa undercard, by choosing the harder fight inside and sustaining it for 12 rounds. Whether it leads to a meeting with Naoya Inoue remains to be seen.
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