How Sam Goodman went from digging ditches to a life-changing world title payday

Sam Goodman freely admits he wasn’t cut out to dig ditches. Listen to the podcast to hear how he landed a life-changing world title fight.

Wollongong boxer Sam Goodman is just weeks away from creating history. Picture: No Limit Boxing

Sam Goodman was supposed to be spending the next couple of days cutting weight, winning world titles and celebrating the greatest achievement in Australian boxing history.

But, after a freak accident in training left him with four stitches in his left eye, the Aussie underdog’s world title blockbuster with Japanese phenom Naoya Inoue was postponed a month to January 24.

Rather than getting stuck into a few cold ones with his ‘Mad Bunch’ supporter crew in Tokyo, he’ll be up early, running and counting his calories as he regroups for the biggest day of his life.

Watch Sam Goodman take on ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue on Friday, January 24. Order the pay per view here!

The cut was a devastating moment for Goodman, but considering where he’s come from – having taken up the sport to stay fit for footy – one month isn’t really all that much.

“Everyone’s always looked at me like I’m a bit crazy,” the one-time barman at The Steelers in Wollongong told Gary Jubelin on the I Catch Killers Podcast. “Everyone told me to go get a trade, but people who know me know how useless I’d be with that sort of stuff.

Moments after he was cut in his last sparring session. Photo: Brendan Bradford

A St George Illawarra diehard, Goodman fights one of the best boxers on the planet, Naoya Inoue, in January. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“I couldn’t be on a jobsite to save my life. I did a couple of weeks labouring with my Pop when I finished off school. I take my hat off to people who do it, but it wasn’t for me.

“I always knew my path was through boxing.”

Those first years in the sport weren’t easy though, and Goodman’s parents and coaches spent plenty of their own money as ‘The Ghost’ worked towards his dream.

“Starting out, you’re fighting for $1500, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a pathway,” he said. “People always say there’s no money in boxing.

“You’re paying sanctioning fees for rankings, your opponents cost an absolute bomb and you need promoters to back you.

“I went from having my coaches having to tip in money to pay opponents – tens of thousands of dollars – to now being able to pay it back.”

Goodman is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in Australia. Picture: No Limit Boxing

The day he signed the life-changing contract to fight Inoue for all the belts at super-bantamweight, was a memorable one.

“I rang mum and said I’d have to dig a few holes to be earning that sort of money,” he laughed.

“I think her and me dad were on the drink for about a week after that.”

Not bad for a scrawny amateur from Albion Park who had some unlikely boxing icons growing up.

“Early on it was Mike Tyson,” said Goodman of his boxing influences.

“There’s footage of me coming out for my first fight and I had mum spray paint my boots black to be like Tyson and had the black shorts and everything.

“How that kid thought he was going to do anything is crazy, but it just shows you that if you put in the work, if you stay consistent and keep at things, you’ll get better.

“Because I didn’t have much talent at all, but I had attitude and I had a go.”

Goodman (C), with journalist Brendan Bradford (L) and Gary Jubelin (R) for the I Catch Killers Podcast. Picture Thomas Lisson

Now he stands on the brink of scoring the biggest boilover in Aussie boxing.

If he’s not number one, Inoue is the number two pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and has finished 25 of his 28 opponents.

He’s a superstar in Japan, is at the top of his game at 31 years old, and has only lost a handful of the 169 rounds he’s fought.

Not that any of that matters to the underdog scrapper from Wollongong.

Inoue (R) is an all-time great. Picture: Mikey WILLIAMS/GETTY IMAGES

“I’ve got it written down in a book that I’d fight and beat this guy – and that was before he even came into my division,” Goodman said.

“I just knew it was inevitable. It’s something I’ve almost manifested.

“If you want to make your own greatness, you have to go out and do great things.

“I’m not in this sport to just knock about. I’m in this sport to be great and to be a world champion. He’s got what I want.

“But I’ve never built anyone up to be more than human. He’s a great fighter, don’t get me wrong, but he’s beatable.

“Everyone’s beatable and I’m working myself into the ground to go and do a job on him.”

Listen to the full I Catch Killers Podcast with Sam Goodman here!

Originally published as How Sam Goodman went from digging ditches to a life-changing world title payday