The teams of Australian Sam Goodman and Japanese star Ryosuke Nishida have 30 days to negotiate terms or their fight for the IBF’s interim super bantamweight title will go to purse bids.
Goodman had been lined up to fight Roman Cardenas, who instead has a spot on the ProBox TV bill in late August, and that has left the 22-1 (8 KOs) Goodman and the 11-1 (2 KOs) Nishida to compete for the IBF’s secondary honors.
The full champion – and, indeed, undisputed champion, at the weight is Naoya Inoue and he will lie in wait for the winner.
Goodman, 27, from Albion Park in New South Wales, had twice been paired with the Japanese pound-for-pound star Inoue only for cuts to initially delay and then force the cancellation of their bout in 2024 and then early in 2025.
Goodman moved up in weight but was defeated by Liverpool’s Nick Ball only to return to super bantamweight where he’s won two bouts since his lone loss.
Nishida, 29, is from Osaka and the IBF’s former champion at bantamweight. His only defeat came against countryman Junto Nakatani.
Goodman is ranked No. 2 by the IBF while Nishida is No. 1.
