Olympic boxing hopeful Joe Goodall steps up training after important victory in Auckland

BRISBANE Olympic boxing hopeful Joe Goodall is stepping up his intensive training for the road to Rio after an important victory in Auckland.

BRISBANE Olympic boxing hopeful Joe Goodall is stepping up his intensive training for the road to Rio after an important victory in Auckland.

While his teammate, London Olympian Jeff Horn, recovers from throat surgery that derailed his fight against American Randall Bailey that was set for Wednesday week, Goodall let his fists roar on Friday night, outpunching 120kg rival Patrick Mailata at the Vodafone Events Centre.

It was super-heavyweight Goodall’s third win from three fights against Mailata.

Goodall had beaten Mailata at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games on his way to a silver medal and then on his way to gold at the Oceania Championships last year in Canberra.

His trainer Glenn Rushton said he was concerned going into the fight, as Goodall had not sparred for nearly a month, because of spending two weeks in a training camp in the Philippines.

“He was also coming down with a flu as he left for Auckland,’’ Rushton said. “But despite being in need of a hitout and a little off-colour, Joe was once again too classy for Mailata.’’

Rushton said he now had three weeks to prepare Goodall before he flies back to the Philippines for another training camp before the Olympic qualifying event — the Asian-Oceanic Championships in Kazakhstan in May.

Australia squeezed home with 5-4 win over New Zealand in Auckland. The 19-year-old Perth middleweight (75kg) Caitlin Parker outpointed New Zealand’s Lani Daniels.

Six days earlier Parker secured her spot on the Australian World Championship and Olympic selection squad for Rio de Janeiro by beating Commonwealth Games representative Kaye Scott in Adelaide.

Geelong’s Kristy Harris, another Commonwealth Games representative, was too sharp for Kiwi Bridgette Morton at 51kg.

Queensland’s Will Moses recovered from a slow start to overcome New Zealand’s Richie Hadlow in the 64kg division.

Originally published as Olympic boxing hopeful Joe Goodall steps up training after important victory in Auckland