world title loss against Ball.<\/a><\/p>\nDespite moving up in weight, and coming into the bout as an outsider, Goodman performed strongly right throughout the championship bout, although was eventually beaten on the scorecards: 113-115, 111-117, 110-118.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while I don\u2019t want to be giving too much away,\u201d Goodman continued of what he learned, \u201cI can say that the biggest learning lesson was that, to put it bluntly, I have to take the fight off people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that fight, I let Ball have too many moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in control, in control, then \u2014 bang \u2014 I\u2019d f*** it up and he\u2019d score a point or two. And that would sway a round his way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s something I\u2019ve learned from.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a fight where I took damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I am making adjustments so that I can impose what I want to do on people. It\u2019s an experience I took plenty from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Goodman win his upcoming eliminator, he then becomes mandatory for whichever Japanese superstar triumphs in May.<\/p>\n
Asked by Fox Sports Australia for a prediction, Goodman suggested Inoue will be too strong for Nakatani, whose first fight at the weight in December was a narrow decision win over Sebastian Hernandez.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think it\u2019s Inoue,\u201d he said. \u201cI think he will be too strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when you look at Nakatani\u2019s most recent fight, the biggest takeaway was how he didn\u2019t look too physically strong at the weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he can punch, obviously. So who knows?<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving now had that fight at the weight, he\u2019ll be better for it \u2026 so we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already, Goodman has twice been in line to fight Inoue, and twice ruled out after suffering cuts in sparring.<\/p>\n
However the Aussie said he wasn\u2019t sure if he would get a third shot at \u2018The Monster\u2019, or if the division king would vacate, and move up again, should his undefeated reign continue against Nakatani.<\/p>\n
Japan’s Naoya Inoue in action against South Korea’s Kim Ye-joon in January.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s all out of my control anyway,\u201d he shrugged. \u201cWhich is why I can\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to worry about the fighter in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how I get myself back into world title contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen whatever opportunity presents itself from there will.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if I start worrying about things I can\u2019t have an impact on, it\u2019s wasted time and energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll roll with the punches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just need to win, put myself back at the top of the division \u2026 then we worry about who is there when we get to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking with media last week, Inoue suggested he will need to be at his destructive best against Nakatani when they square off inside the famed Tokyo Dome on May 2.<\/p>\n
Both fighters are unbeaten, with Inoue looking to make a seventh successful defence of his undisputed crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay 2 will be a historic day for boxing,\u201d Inoue said at a press event to announce the fight. \u201cBut in terms of my boxing career, I have to think of it as just a point on the way. \u201cI will prepare for the fight with that mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n
How new training regime changed Tszyu | 07:46<\/p>\n
Inoue will be returning to the Tokyo Dome for the first time since 2024, when he recovered from being sensationally dropped early to eventually KO Mexico\u2019s Luis Nery.<\/p>\n
While Monster was downed by a heavy left hook in round one \u2013 the first knockdown of his career \u2013 he then quickly recovered, dropping Nery twice himself before finishing things in the sixth.<\/p>\n
Nakatani, meanwhile, is undefeated in 32 fights, including 24 knockouts.<\/p>\n
Said Inoue of the challenge: \u201cI have to raise the level of every aspect of my boxing, otherwise I can\u2019t bring out the best version of myself. First of all I have to make sure this is the best fight I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Goodman has vowed to make amends for the \u201cf*** up\u201d which marred his heartbreaking world title loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[49452,4587,12624,5806,4815,703,50790,49,48,34776,208264,208273,18577,48956,5220,208270,208277,208278,2454,208276,208269,11366,208275,208263,208272,13035,24119,208271,208266,111756,208267,208262,37213,13341,5155,127752,19235,18262,82,208268,5154,208274,208265,50193,76466,42841,25294],"class_list":["post-530856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-ahmad-reda","tag-america","tag-argentina","tag-asia","tag-august","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-career","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-championship-bout","tag-division-king","tag-domestic-fighters","tag-eastern-asia","tag-fight-card","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-guy-looks","tag-heartbreaking-world","tag-hyped-lightweight-prospect","tag-japan","tag-japanese-megaster","tag-japanese-superstar-triumphs","tag-keith-thurman","tag-learning-lesson","tag-luis-nery","tag-monster-fights-heading","tag-naoya-inoue","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-opportunity-presents","tag-press-event","tag-richard-pelham","tag-ring-looking","tag-rodrigo-fabian-ruiz","tag-sam-goodman","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-sebastian-fundora","tag-sebastian-hernandez","tag-south-america","tag-south-korea","tag-sports","tag-super-bantamweight-eliminator","tag-tim-tszyu","tag-title-confession","tag-undisputed-division-king","tag-weight-class","tag-weight-divisions","tag-western-asia","tag-world-title-contention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n