‘I need to start earning’: Goodman reveals eye-watering financial toll of devastating eye injury

Sam Goodman was set to make over a million dollars for his world title fight with Naoya Inoue. He has now revealed the extent of the financial turmoil he went through after missing out on the bout.

Australian boxer Sam Goodman has revealed the full financial toll of the devastating eye injury that twice ended his hopes of fighting undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Nayoa Inoue.

Goodman was set to make well over a million dollars for the Inoue fight, and had already put a deposit on a house near his parents in Wollongong, south of Sydney.

But his world title dreams, his mega payday and his first home hopes were dashed when he suffered a cut over his left eye in his last sparring session just 10 days before the fight.

Code Sports sat with Goodman and his team at a café in Cronulla just an hour after the injury, and barely 15 minutes after his eye was stitched up.

Goodman just seconds after he was cut in sparring in December. Picture: Brendan Bradford

He was devastated about missing out on his world title shot, but the reality of the missed pay check was sinking in too.

The fight was rescheduled, but he reopened the same cut just a month after the initial injury, and the world title blockbuster in Japan was cancelled altogether.

He has now opened up about the financial turmoil of that shock double setback.

“I’d put a deposit down on a house and everything,” Goodman told Code Sports.

“After the original cut, I actually pushed the settlement date back, so that I’d have the money in my account to pay for the house.

“The owner agreed to push the settlement date back too, but he asked if he could access the deposit amount.

“I said, ‘Yeah, no dramas’ but then I got cut again, and it’s just like, ‘F**k!’

“It hurts.

“Everyone’s gotta go through stuff at some point, and it’s my turn to go through some shit right now.”

Goodman headlines the May 14 card, with Harry Garside returning in the co-main event. Pictures: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous

The financial strain is just one reason he’s so keen on getting back in the ring on May 14 at the Hordern Pavilion against Cesar Vaca.

He’ll be getting paid a fraction of what he was supposed to for a fight with Inoue, but it’s the first step towards getting another world title shot.

“I can’t actually afford to sit around and wait,” he said. “I’ve spent up to six figures in training camps – nearly a hundred thousand dollars, so I’ve gotta fight.

“I need to start earning again and making money for myself. I haven’t fought since last year.

“I’ve spent money, and I bought the house and when you’ve got no money coming in, it’s tough.

“It does check your ego a little bit, that sort of stuff.”

Goodman’s last fight was a win over Chainoi 'Rock Man' Worawut last July. Picture. No Limit Boxing

Goodman isn’t taking any chances of suffering another similar injury, and has been wearing a heavily padded facemask for sparring.

His distinctive new look has earned him a new nickname, and possibly a new Star Wars-themed entrance song.

“I’ve got a full nose bar headgear and it’s all white, so I’m looking like a Storm Trooper,” he laughed. “I’m just doing everything I can to protect it in contact work.

“I had a combined 19 stitches across the two cuts – it was a decent job, that one.

“All the boys have been calling me ‘The Storm Trooper’ so I reckon I could be walking out to the Imperial March.

“We’ve stitched up a few of the other boys by changing their walkout songs, so I reckon it might be my turn for this one.”

Originally published as ‘I need to start earning’: Goodman reveals eye-watering financial toll of devastating eye injury