who is going up one weight division for his world-title baptism against Ball<\/a>, says nothing will distract him, declaring he\u2019s as clean as his pristine win-loss record.<\/p>\n\u201cFor this fight, the drug testing has been going late which is a bit average,\u201d said Goodman, who was also heavily tested before his proposed world-title bout against Naoya Inoue last year, which never eventuated after he suffered two head cuts in sparring. <\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Inoue, I got drug tested six or seven times 10 days out from the fight and there would have been another test if I got to Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you fight away from home, you have to expect these things. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear these horror stories and that sort of s*** (boxers failing drug tests) can happen. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s cheaters who cheat, I get it,\u201d Goodman added on The Punch podcast as he prepares to face Ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of fighters could cheat their way right up to a world-title shot. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fighting in their territory, but I\u2019m doing everything I can control to get to the ring in the best shape possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t let it get to me. We (the Goodman team) are in a fortress here. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t win, it\u2019s because I\u2019m not good enough, which won\u2019t be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Intriguingly, Goodman has taken inspiration from two Little Masters in another sport.<\/p>\n
Two of rugby league\u2019s greatest halfbacks, Broncos legend Allan Langer and current Brisbane skipper Adam Reynolds, are surprise motivating forces in Goodman\u2019s bid to conquer the world.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Wrecking\u2019 Ball is England\u2019s only current world champion and underlining his pint-sized stature, he stands a tiny 157cm \u2014 eight centimetres shorter than \u2018Alfie\u2019 Langer.<\/p>\n
Growing up on the NSW south coast, Goodman\u2019s first dream was to play NRL. He was a St George Illawarra fan and marvelled at vision of Langer and Reynolds, inspiring Goodman with their ability to punch above their weight as cheeky halfbacks in the NRL\u2019s land of giants.<\/p>\n
When Goodman suffered an arm injury playing league as a 10-year-old, it was the moment that convinced him to take up boxing and the \u2018Ghost\u2019 quickly found his niche.<\/p>\n
Now unbeaten after seven years in the professional ranks, Goodman makes his world-title debut and is being driven by two of rugby league\u2019s little champions to break down Ball in a middle-eastern mauling.<\/p>\n
Reynolds is a massive boxing fan and enjoys Goodman\u2019s high-octane style. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe critics always underestimate us smaller guys,\u201d said Goodman, who at 169cm has a major size advantage over Ball. <\/p>\n
\u201cI loved rugby league growing up and there was a time when I hoped I would be good enough to play in the NRL, but I\u2019ve found success in boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlokes like \u2018Alfie\u2019 Langer, Geoff Toovey (Manly great) and Adam Reynolds made a career out of proving people wrong. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I will do this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Ball) has a wild and frantic style. He is unique and it works for him, but there\u2019s many ways I can win this fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hit-and-run mission, I\u2019ll go over there, get the belt and come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ball has been accused of underestimating Goodman, with the Briton admitting he hasn\u2019t watched the Australian at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know much about him and I don\u2019t really care,\u201d he told this masthead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t know (about his style) until the bell goes. I just focus on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy coaches do the research, I let them do it while I focus on myself and they tell me what\u2019s going to work on the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will beat him because I\u2019m an all-round better fighter. I want it more. I\u2019m hungrier than him. I\u2019m more powerful. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best version of me beats his best and that\u2019s what I will be. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough for sure, but he won\u2019t handle me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understood there is a rematch clause in the deal and Goodman has no qualms about beating Ball twice in his eventual dream of fighting undisputed king \u2018The Monster\u2019 Inoue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a rematch clause so I might have to fight this guy twice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure there is (a two-fight clause), so we\u2019ll wait and see. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I beat him the first time well enough, we\u2019ll see if we come to Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve bled for this, I\u2019ve sacrificed everything for this moment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not flying halfway around the world to come home empty-handed. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the bell rings there\u2019s no teammates to back me up \u2014 it\u2019s all on me. <\/p>\n
\u201cCome Sunday, he\u2019s going to find out exactly what I\u2019m about … I\u2019m not leaving the desert without that world title.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Goodman insists he is not a drug cheat amid fears the Australian was deliberately targeted by anti-doping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-72279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}