{"id":900917,"date":"2026-09-22T05:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T05:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900917\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T05:12:11","slug":"boxing-2026-sam-goodman-vs-ryosuke-nishida-preview-how-to-watch-in-australia-andrew-moloney-on-judges-in-japan-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900917\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing 2026: Sam Goodman vs Ryosuke Nishida preview, how to watch in Australia, Andrew Moloney on judges in Japan, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s newest boxing world champion insists Sam Goodman can trust the judges in Japan, declaring it \u201cthe fairest place in the world to fight\u201d ahead of Sunday\u2019s title showdown with Ryosuke Nishida.<\/a><\/p>\n

Goodman faces the former bantamweight champion in Tokyo for the interim IBF super-bantamweigfht crown, almost two years after his blockbuster showdown with Naoya Inoue fell apart, with fight to be shown live on Kayo Sports.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Goodman v Nishida | Sunday September 27 from 6pm AEST | Sam Goodman takes on Japan\u2019s Ryosuke Nishida for the interim IBF super bantamweight world title live from Tokyo on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Albion Park product known as \u201cThe Ghost\u201d must now defeat a Japanese fighter on home soil, but Andrew Moloney does not believe he needs a knockout to bring the belt back to Australia.<\/p>\n

Moloney recently won the IBF super-flyweight title via majority decision<\/a> over Mexican rival Willibaldo Garcia in Japan \u2013 and says visiting fighters can expect a fair shake. <\/p>\n

Goodman knows only too well the dangers of leaving a world-title fight in the judges\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n

He went down via unanimous decision to Nick Ball last year, with the eyebrow-raising scores of 118-110 and 117-111 hardly reflecting what was a far tighter fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Japan\u2019s the fairest place in the world to fight \u2013 even against Japanese fighters,\u201d Moloney told Fox Sports Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam\u2019s fighting a Japanese fighter in his own backyard, but I\u2019ve seen fights in the past that were close and I thought the Japanese fighter deserved to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like they\u2019re so honourable and they don\u2019t want to look like they\u2019re favouring their fighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like you\u2019re going to get a very fair decision over there, even if you\u2019re fighting against a Japanese fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE BOXING<\/p>\n

\u2018Fight whole country\u2019s been waiting for\u2019 \u2014 Huge NRL crossover bout confirmed<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Goodman and Andrew MoloneySource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Moloney also knows Goodman\u2019s game better than most.<\/p>\n

The pair have trained together over the years, and Moloney believes the 27-year-old\u2019s disciplined, mobile style can give Nishida big problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done plenty of rounds over the years with Sammy,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very good fighter. This is obviously a big opportunity for him and a fight that I think he can win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he held himself well in his last world-title effort against Nick Ball, and that was obviously up a weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think super-bantamweight is probably his best division and he knows what it takes to win this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nishida has lost only once in 12 pro appearances, with that defeat coming when he was pulled out after six rounds against Japanese superstar Junto Nakatani last year.<\/p>\n

Moloney, who has also fought Nakatani, rates the former IBF bantamweight champion highly \u2013 but reckons his relatively flat-footed approach could play into Goodman\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched his fight against Junto Nakatani, who I fought, and he\u2019s a good fighter, no doubt,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe fought well against Nakatani and gave him a close fight until he was pulled out after six rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do rate Nishida, but I think his style suits Sam.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam\u2019s very quick in and out on his feet, while Nishida isn\u2019t really a fast-footed fighter. He\u2019s more of a flat-footed boxer, and I think that will suit Sammy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moloney expects the fight to go the full 12 rounds and believes Goodman should fight exactly the way he usually does.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam really always boxes one style and he\u2019s very disciplined with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t change things up a lot or take too many risks. He does almost the same thing from round one to round 12 \u2013 but what he does, he does very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe controls distance in and out very well with his feet. It\u2019s almost like he\u2019s fencing in a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s just got to keep collecting the points and win each round at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will go the distance, and he\u2019s just got to make sure he\u2019s busy enough to win seven of those rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Moloney delivered a career-defining victory, defeating Mexico\u2019s Willibaldo Garcia in Japan to complete one of the greatest comeback stories in Aussie boxing.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Goodman has risen through the ranks with Wollongong\u2019s rowdy \u201cMad Bunch\u201d behind him, but Tokyo promises a much different soundtrack.<\/p>\n

Moloney insists the quieter atmosphere will be no less intense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Japanese fans are the most passionate in the sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may not be the rowdiest crowd, but they\u2019re there from the first fight to the last. They watch every single punch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey absolutely love and respect the fighters. You can really feel how much they care about boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodman is known for his supporter base being loud, so it will probably be a different atmosphere for him. But I\u2019m sure he\u2019s bringing a few over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moloney also dismissed concerns about Goodman having too little time to acclimatise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only a seven or eight-hour flight and the time difference is only an hour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was only over there for five or six days before my last fight and had no issue at all. It\u2019s certainly a lot easier than fighting in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE BOXING:<\/p>\n

BREAKING: \u2018Fight whole country\u2019s been waiting for\u2019 \u2014 Huge NRL crossover bout confirmed<\/a><\/p>\n

Nikita Tszyu\u2019s big U-turn after rescoring controversial draw as next move teased<\/a><\/p>\n

Garcia demolishes Benn in Round 2 | 00:29<\/p>\n

Victory could revive Goodman\u2019s hopes of eventually facing Inoue after their undisputed title fight was twice cancelled because of a cut suffered by the Australian.<\/a><\/p>\n

Moloney, however, has a feeling the opportunity may never return, with Inoue expected to leave the division in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great to see and I\u2019m sure that\u2019s what Sam wants,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut realistically, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s probably going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like Inoue is going to fight Bam Rodriguez for his last fight at super-bantamweight and then move up to featherweight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s obviously a shame for Sam. But this is for an interim world title, so the winner will most likely be upgraded to full world champion once he moves up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s newest boxing world champion insists Sam Goodman can trust the judges in Japan, declaring it \u201cthe fairest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-900917","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\/900917","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=900917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}